


The College Years

by ccgh518



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Action & Romance, Alive Allison, Alternate Universe - College/University, Blow Jobs, Canon-Typical Violence, College, College Student Stiles, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Gen, Hand & Finger Kink, Hand Jobs, Kissing, Lots of Sex, Masturbation, Mutual Masturbation, Oakland, Oral Sex, Resurrection, Road Trips, Romance, Sacrifice, San Francisco, San Francisco Bay Area, Sex, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Smut, University of California Berkeley, Vaginal Sex, Vampires, Were-Creatures, Werewolves, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2018-11-15 03:42:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 44
Words: 108,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11222586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ccgh518/pseuds/ccgh518
Summary: Scott and Stiles have finished their first semester and are returning for their second at the University of California, Berkeley. While walking home from campus one night, they stumble upon a girl fighting two men in a park. When they go to help her, they get sucked into a new life of mystery, danger and supernatural creatures.An AU where Stiles' "vision" came true and pretty much everyone ended up going to school near San Francsico and the Pack stayed together. It's a Stiles and original female character love story, that will alternate between Berkeley and Beacon Hills, and will see the return of most of the characters from the series.First chapter is the Table of Contents.Also to be found as Stiles x reader on @were-cheetah-Stiles on tumblr.... anon. -___-





	1. Table of Contents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the * marks one of my personal favorite chapters  
> the - separates the chapters into different stories  
> $ - smut
> 
> Chapter 1 is table of contents, so "Chapter 2" is technically Chapter 1, but you get that...  
> cool. enjoy.

_**Freshman Year** _

**Chapter 2 : **Scott and Stiles meet Cat and encounter their new threat (*)

 **Chapter 3** : Stiles begins to develop a crush on Cat and they learn more about her being a witch

 **Chapter 4** : The Pack get together to plan their next move

 **Chapter 5:**  Cat and Stiles go on their first patrol and spend the night getting to know each other (**)

 **Chapter 6:** Cat and Stiles go on their second patrol and end up on a late-night adventure (**)

  
**Chapter 7** : Stiles spends the day getting closer to Cat (*)

  
**Chapter 8** : Stiles and Cat go on their third patrol and are almost caught by the vampires (*)

  
**Chapter 9** : The Pack go to a party

 **Chapter 10** : Stiles and Cat finally kiss

 **Chapter 11** : Scott, Stiles and Cat return to Beacon Hills to speak with Gerard Argent (*)

 **Chapter 12** : The first vampire attack victim causes an issue and Cat and Stiles define their relationship

 **Chapter 13** : Lydia and Stiles repair their friendship and find a development with the vampires

 **Chapter 14** : Parent's Weekend descends on campus

 **Chapter 15** : The Pack head to New Orleans to bring Allison back (*)

 **Chapter 16** : Cat and Stiles finally have sex (*$)

 **Chapter 17** : Cat's roommate is abducted by the vampires

 **Chapter 18** : The Pack is forced to tell their secret to someone, but also catch a break in their efforts to find Cat's roommate and the vampires

 **Chapter 19** : The Pack finally goes head-to-head with the vampires (*)

 **Chapter 20** : Life has returned to normal, The Pack finish up their first year in college and move home for the summer

 **Chapter 21** : Cat and Stiles share one last night together before being separated for the summer ($)

* * *

 

 ** _Sophomore Year_**  

 **Chapter 22** : Stiles flies to New York to retrieve Cat when things start to go haywire in Beacon Hills

 **Chapter 23** : Cat and Stiles stop in Chicago for clues, while on their roadtrip

 **Chapter 24** : Cat and Stiles have sex for the first time since leaving school (*$)

 **Chapter 25** : Cat moves into the Argent's apartment and begins to become friends with Allison

 **Chapter 26** : Coach Bobby Finnstock is the newest victim of the gruesome attacks

 **Chapter 27:**  Stiles starts a murder board and works out the pattern emerging with the victims. Meanwhile, a new attack changes everything... (*)

 **Chapter 28:** The Pack are camped out at Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital following Stiles' near death attack

 **Chapter 29:** Cat has a breakthrough and the Pack finally understands what's been terrorizing Beacon Hills because of Stiles' attack

 **Chapter 30:** Cat and Stiles work to figure out more about the rabisu and what brought it to Beacon Hills

 **Chapter 31:** The Pack figure out who brought the rabisu to town (*)

 **Chapter 32:** Stiles goes missing while investigating the boy that summoned the rabisu to town

 **Chapter 33:** Cat and Stiles get through a rough patch (**$)

 **Chapter 34:** Cora and Isaac have a dangerous run in with the rabisu($)

 **Chapter 35:** The Pack studies the books that Sam had used to research the rabisu, and Stiles remembers something from the museum in Chicago (*$)

 **Chapter 36:** Stiles and Cat struggle with their sexual frustrations while they wait for Stiles to get his stitches out. They receive the translations of an important text, and see a rabisu in the flesh again (*$)

 **Chapter 37** : Stiles finally gets his stitches out and wants to have sex, but instead gets met with a total meltdown from his girlfriend

 **Chapter 38** : The Pack tries out The Šurpu to see if it will defeat the rabisu

 **Chapter 39** : The Pack gathers to discuss The Maqlû, after the colossal failure of the Šurpu

 **Chapter 40** : The Pack go head-to-head with the rabisu in a dangerous attempt to once and for all rid Beacon Hills of the deadly archaic demons

 


	2. The Park Attack

"I don't know." Scott said defeatedly, as he walked from campus to his apartment with his best friend since childhood. "I knew that it was a long shot, but I really thought that going back home for Christmas would, I don't know, rekindle it or something. Now, I just don't think it's gonna happen, Stiles." 

"I know, buddy it's rough, girls suck, Scott. I swear to god, I am done with them." Scott chuckled at Stiles' proclamation. "Don't laugh at me, asshole. I'm serious, Lydia and I imploded, and while I do think that we are better off as friends, I don't even want to look at another girl anytime soon."

"I feel you... All this stuff with Kira, all of this back and forth, on and off.. Honestly?...It makes me really miss Allison..." Scott stared at the pavement under his feet, as he admitted the feeling that had been plaguing him for months. 

"Scott, I think we should just go to parties and meet new girls and be regular college freshman, who aren't moping over girls that we can never have." Stiles replied, as he gripped Scott's shoulder, grabbing his attention from his shoes. 

"I thought you were swearing off all girls?" Scott smirked. 

Stiles stopped in place and stared Scott straight in the eyes, deadpan, he said, "I meant for right now. I'm not trying to go  _back_ to being a virgin, Scott. Don't be stupid."

Scott laughed and they continued walking. "I don't know what I was thinking..."

In the distance they heard a scream that stopped them in their tracks. 

"Did you hear that?" Scott asked, alarmed.

"Yea, that wasn't just your wolfy super-hearing." Stiles replied, as he picked up his pace towards the origin of the sound. 

They heard the scream again and took off running. They rounded a corner in the park they were walking in and ran into a girl, limply carrying her bleeding boyfriend.

"Stiles..." Scott motioned to the young couple as he carried on running in the direction of the blood trail.

Stiles took out his phone and got on with the police emergency dispatch. "Are you okay?" Stiles asked the girl, as he helped her lay her boyfriend on the grass beside the sidewalk. "What's your name?"

"Mary.." She said shakily. 

"Okay, Mary, well I called 911 and they're on their way. What happened?" 

"They came out of nowhere and they attacked us. There were two of them.. two guys. They just... they came out of nowhere. We didn't even hear them coming up behind us. She... She came out of nowhere too. Oh god.." She sobbed and stared down at her boyfriend. Stiles noticed her holding her hands over his bloody neck. 

"Are you going to be okay? My friend might need my help." Stiles asked, rising to his feet. 

"Please don't go." 

"You'll be fine, I promise, my friend and I will handle them, and the police are on their way, just stay here." Stiles pried his arm out of her bloody grip and ran after Scott. 

Stiles ran, following the same trail of blood until he heard screaming again, and a hand reached out and grabbed him by the sweatshirt sleeve, pulling him into the bushes. 

"Yo! Scott! You should really not do that to anyone.. ever! You scared the crap out of me." Stiles yelled, as he clutched his chest, and shoved his best friend. 

"Look..." Scott whispered, still holding Stiles' arm, and pushing him to look forward through the bushes that they were hiding behind. 

In front of them, in a clearing in the park, a girl was standing before two men, she stretched her right hand towards them, her left hand gestured towards the bench that was bolted to the cement behind her, all while a glowing orb surrounded her. The two friends watched in awe and confusion.  

"What the fuck...." Stiles asked. "Is it mountain ash or...?" 

"I don't think so... but..." 

"Why aren't you helping her, Scott?" Stiles whispered angrily at Scott.

"I don't know what the hell is going on, Stiles." Scott's voice got high pitched and cracked. "They're definitely not werewolves, and honestly, she looks like she's taking care of them." Scott said as they watched the bench begin to levitate off the ground. 

The glowing orb dissipated as she focused both of her hands on moving the bench, and launched the heavy, metal seat towards the men charging towards her. It missed and slammed into the cement between the attackers. "FUCK." They heard her yell as the attackers charged towards her; their long and skinny fingers reaching for her body.

"I may have spoken too soon." Scott said rising to his feet from behind the bushes. Scott and Stiles watched as one of the men picked the girl up by her neck and threw her in the air, launching her ten feet back onto a patch of grass, like she weighed nothing. 

 

* * *

 

She woke because of the bright, morning sun shining directly onto her face. She rubbed her eyes and winced; her head was pounding. She looked around and realized that she did not recognize the room she was in or the sheets she was under. She lifted the comforter off of her body; she was still fully clothed, but missing her shoes and jacket. She pushed the blanket off of her with her feet, shoving it to the end of the bed, as she surveyed the room.

In the corner by the door, slumped in an oversized armchair was a boy that she did not know. He was sound asleep, drooling on the hand that propped his head up against the wall behind the chair. 

She swung her legs over the side of the bed, and began tip-toeing across the room towards the door, where her shoes, jacket and backpack all laid neatly next to the boy in the chair. She surveyed the room for something to defend herself with, and glanced at a New York Mets World Series Edition Louisville Slugger wooden, blue and orange bat on the opposite end of the bedroom. She took another step across the hardwood floors towards her belongings, and the the floor creaked beneath the weight of her toes. The boy opened his eyes just in time to see the baseball bat fly across the room into her hand and her to hold it in a defensive position against him. 

"Holy shit!" Stiles screamed, completely startled. He gripped the arms of the chair. "YO, SCOTTY."

"WHO ARE YOU?!" She demanded to know. 

"Whoa!" Scott exclaimed as he burst through the bedroom door, his hair matted on one side, putting his hands up in the air defensively. "We are not going to hurt you. We saved you last night from those two guys."

"Who are _you?!_ Where am I?!" She demanded to know, slightly lowering the bat away from Stiles, and aiming it at Scott instead.

"You're in our apartment, in South Berkeley... your driver's license is a New York address so we didn't know where you lived and you were out cold so we brought you here. Please put my bat down. It's a collectors item." Stiles explained, cringing and making a first against the arm of the chair. 

"We aren't going to hurt you, we just wanted to make sure you were okay. I'm Scott, and this is Stiles." Scott gestured to his friend, still leaning into the chair, who sheepishly grinned and lifted his hand to wave to the girl standing over him, threatening his life. 

"You know it's customary not to hurt people who have saved you." Stiles remarked, as he reached slowly towards her to take the bat out of her hands. "And you couldn't have gone for the other bat? Seriously, this one is valuable. It's from the World Series." Scott rolled his eyes.

She released her grip and stepped backwards, the floorboard creaking under her foot again. "I... I'm sorry. I just.. ugh." She rubbed the back of her head gently and felt a very large, tender bump. "...What happened?"

Scott left the room, and Stiles helped her slowly into the chair that he was just sleeping in. Scott came back in with an icepack, wrapped in a dishtowel. He handed it to her and sat down next to Stiles, on his bed. He listened as Stiles was in the middle of explaining the events that led to that morning of her waking up in his bed. 

"Scott and I were walking home from the gym last night, and we always cut through the park to get back here from campus.. and we heard a scream. That girl and her boyfriend pointed us in your direction and we happened upon you fighting those two guys." Stiles explained. 

"What are you?" Scott blurted out, curiously. 

Stiles' facial expression dropped and he looked at his best friend deadpan. "Wow, Scott. Really? So subtle. Really, well done." Stiles chastised, dryly. 

"I don't know what you're talking about." She replied uncomfortably. "I saw those guys attack that couple and I... I thought I could help. I.. I've been taking kickboxing lessons, and I thought that I could help. Clearly, I was wrong." She said, as she looked at the icepack to re-wrap it, avoiding eye contact with Scott. 

"That was not kickboxing like I've ever seen." Scott said, quickly. 

You yearned to change the subject off of yourself."If I couldn't stop them, how could you?" She asked, snarky. 

Scott and Stiles looked at each other and Stiles piped up. "Umm... so, we watched you fight them, and when the bench went flying and missed them, they charged at you and one of them picked you up by the neck and threw you like ten feet. It was insane." Stiles quipped. "That's when Scott and I stepped in..." Scott raised his eyebrow and frowned at Stiles. "Okay, fine, that was when Scott stepped in and I ran over to check on you."

"But they were... how did you fight them off?" She asked, suspicious and confused, holding the icepack firmly against the back of her head, not remembering any of their version of the story. 

Scott rose from the bed, and stretched his fingers away from his palms. He opened his eyes and they glowed red and long, sharp claws jutted out from the tips of his fingers. "Now you know how I fought them off, I want to know how you did. Who are you?" Scott questioned once more. 

"You're a...." She stumbled on her words, her eyes widened with shock. 

"Werewolf... and a showboat. Scott, put your claws away, you're freaking her out." Stiles finished her sentence for her. 

"Seriously, who are you?" Scott asked one last time, as he sat back down next to his best friend. 

"My name is Cat." She finally revealed. "Cat Gauthier."

"And what are you?" Scott asked again. 

"I'm a witch."

"Holy shit. I have been waiting for this day." Stiles blurted out. 

"And what were those things last night?" Scott inquired, more gently. 

"Vampires." 


	3. The Morning After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after saving a couple and a strange girl from an attack by vampires in a park outside of campus, Scott and Stiles talk to the girl that they saved, Cat, a witch, in order to fill in all of the blanks about vampires and witches, and what all of this could mean for their future in Berkeley.

"Oh come on! Vampires, really? Does this mean we have to read _Twilight_ now?." Stiles complained. 

Stiles Stilinski and his best friend, Scott McCall, sat on the side of Stiles' bed, in their South Berkeley apartment, recounting the events of last night. You sat in the chair in the corner of Stiles' bedroom, and had just told them that you were a witch and that they had all fought vampires last night.

Stiles was interrupted from continuing his whining when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled his iPhone out of his basketball shorts and read the text message. 

"Did you guys get this too? It's a University alert." Stiles said, holding up his phone to show them. 

Scott walked into the living room to grab his phone, and she leaned over the arm of the chair and reached into a small pocket of her maroon backpack, where her iPhone was sticking out of an unzipped pocket. Stiles watched as her hair fell gently off of her shoulder and in front of her face as she leaned over. Scott walked back in and caught Stiles staring at her. Scott had seen this look on his best friend before. 

"I got it." Scott interrupted, breaking Stiles' concentration. 

"Me too.... ' _Two students attacked by two unarmed men at 12:09AM last night in Magnolia Park. Police patrolling area. See email for more info_.'" She read aloud the text message on her phone. "aaaand, my roommates have been texting and calling me all night. Great." She said, as she closed her phone with the press of a button. 

"I love how they send us this alert now, like, not really helpful nine hours later, is it?" Stiles said to Scott, in a sarcastic tone. 

Scott placed his phone down on the bed, and turned his attention back towards Cat. "Can we get back to this?" Scott asked, gesturing back and forth towards him and her. "Cat, how do you know that they were vampires?"

"Yea, because I've gotta say, we have come across a whole hell of a lot of different supernatural creatures, and considering he's a werewolf, I thought vampires would be the first one we would come across, but we never did so I just assumed that they were actually a myth... you know, like, what werewolf parents tell their werewolf kids to keep them in line." Stiles rambled. 

Cat stared at Stiles with a furrowed brow. "Like monsters under the bed?" She asked, sarcastically. 

"Exactly! Regular people tell their kids that if they don't sleep, monster will get them, I just assumed that wolf kids were told about - " Stiles continued until Scott cut him off. 

"Guys! Can we focus?" Scott shouted. Stiles pretended to zip his mouth closed with his fingers, and then gestured to Scott to continue. "So, vampires... have you come across them before?" 

"No... we don't really have them in New York, I guess, but when you come across two guys sucking the blood out of some guys neck and they have fangs, I assume that they are vampires." Cat explained. 

"How do you know it wasn't a wendigo or something else?" Stiles asked. 

"I've seen wendigo's before, and that was not one of them." 

Scott looked at Stiles with concern. "I saw it too, it definitely wasn't a wendigo..." Scott sighed. "We've never come across a vampire before either." Scott told her. 

"I gathered.. from... his speech..." She gestured to Stiles. 

"Stiles." He reminded her, while pointing at himself. 

"Right, from Stiles' speech."

"You're our first witch too." Stiles added.

"Well, I mean, do druids count as witches?" Scott asked. 

"Not really. Our powers are a bit different." She explained. 

"What are your powers, then?" Stiles asked, leaning forward to focus in on her voice. 

You stumbled over the beginning of your sentence because you noticed the cute moles smattered across Stiles' face. "Um, well you saw the telekinesis and the force energy fields, but there is also some invisibility that I have not figured out how to master, and some stuff with potions, stuff like that.." Cat explained.

"What do you mean potions? Like... Harry Potter potions?" Scott asked, confused but slightly excited.

"Yo, Dude, are you really going to glaze over the invisibility part? Because that is so dope.. and that was a force field, not mountain ash last night?" Stiles also inquired.

"It was a force field, but it works similarly to mountain ash, it's just that I create it. As for the potions, that part is similar to the druids, if you know anything about them." Scott nodded, indicating that they knew about druids. "Witches are connected to nature in the same way and how nature interacts with the supernatural, and what cures what and what's poisonous, stuff like that... There are no wands or love potions or anything like that. No spells. It's less like the lore than you'd think."

"Well that's sort of disappointing." Stiles blurted out, as she frowned at his comment. "But still really fucking cool, and obviously a really great addition to the pack." 

"The pack? What are... Oh, shit..." She looked down at her screen lighting up with your roommates picture. "I've gotta go. My roommates definitely think I've been murdered or something since I never came home last night. I just, I have to go. I'm sorry." She grabbed her navy blue Toms and began to place them on her feet. She got up and placed her black leather jacket back over her and picked up her backpack to sling it over her shoulders. 

"I can walk you home." Scott offered, before Stiles stood and interrupted. 

"No, no you can't, Scott, because you have class. You have class, don't you, Scott?" Stiles fidgeted, and pawed at his best friends shoulder. 

"How could I forget... Stiles can walk you home." Scott grinned up at Stiles, who gave him a subtle thumbs up. 

Stiles slipped on a pair of Adidas and walked her out of their apartment building. He opened the front door and squinted as the warm January light beamed down on his face. 

"You live in the Willowbrook apartments?" Cat asked Stiles, as you looked up to see where you were. 

"Yea, where do you live?" 

"The Trocadero, it's like six blocks north of here, right by Magnolia Park. You really don't have to walk me home, Stiles. It's sunny, and that means the vampires probably won't be out, right?" She asked, assuming that vampires couldn't go out in the day like you had always heard and seen in movies. 

"Just to be on the safe side..." Stiles gestured for her to lead the way back to her apartment. 

"So, you and Scott are both werewolves?" 

"No, no, I'm more like the brains behind this whole operation." Stiles smirked. 

"Whole operation? How many werewolves are there around here?" She asked.

"Well, Isaac, Ethan, Cora, and Scott are all werewolves, Malia is a were-coyote, Lydia is a banshee, Kira is a kitsune, I was a nogitsune for a minute there but I am fully recovered from that, so no worries... and that doesn't even count the people we have back in Beacon Hills still." Stiles listed off his allies as he walked with Cat down the sidewalk. 

"Um.... that's quite a group... and you're like, what? The leader or something?" 

"I'm just the guy with the plan.. the best plan...always."  Stiles clarified.

"And what's a Beacon Hills?" She asked. 

"It's our hometown, here in California, mine and Scott's and everyone else's.. You're from New York, right?" 

"Yea, I grew up by the beach, but my mom lives in Queens, and my dad lives in the Hamptons, and I usually stay with my mom when I'm home." She revealed to him. 

"You live in Queens? Where the Mets play... That is so cool. Do you like the Mets?" Stiles asked, hopeful. 

"Nah, I'm a Yankees fans."

"Oh... but the Mets.."

"Stiles, this is me." She said as she pointed up to the building that they had stopped in front of. 

"Right.. well.. OH! I should get your phone number." Stiles said quickly. "Uh, for the vampires.." She looked at him confused. "Not for the vampires.. In case the vampires come back, I mean. I should get your number so we can keep in touch with you in regards to the vampires... the vampires... mmf. wow." 

Cat took the phone out of Stiles outreached hand and plugged her information into the contacts. She then handed it back to him and fumbled with her keys in the front door lock. 

"Thanks... for everything." She said as she stood in the doorway. "I'll see you around."

"Great.. awesome, yea, I'll see you. Yea.. bye." Stiles waved awkwardly and walked backwards towards the sidewalk, grinning. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope that the reader can put themselves in the shoes of Cat and yea, please let me know what you think!


	4. The Coffee Shop Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There have been two more attacks since the first night they encountered the vampires. Scott and Stiles have devised a plan for capturing the dangerous creatures of the night. They gather the gang at a coffee shop on campus to break down the threat, and Lydia gets jealous of Stiles flirting with Cat.

"And then she walked away before I could tell her about the merits of being a long suffering Mets fan over being a Yankees fan. It was borderline offensive." Stiles lectured to Isaac Lahey, who was sitting across the coffee table from him, on the opposite couch, with his mouth agape. He wasn't sure how Stiles had managed to move the conversation from Isaac's shitty first test in his environmental science class to Cat not being a Met's fan.

"Is he talking about her being a Yankees fan, _again_?" Scott asked as he brought over cups of coffee for his friends. He sat down next to Isaac and pushed Stiles coffee across the table. 

"Yea, he is, and now I'm really curious to see what this girl looks like." Isaac commented in a hushed tone.

"She is actually really pretty in Stiles' defense." Scott said.

"I'm just saying." Stiles exclaimed pointing his hand in Scott's direction in agreement. "So how did Cora close up the shop?"

"I told my boss that I was the only one able to work tonight and I didn't feel comfortable walking home alone at night after the third attack." Cora Hale said in a pretend weak tone, knowing full well that she could beat the hell out of any vampire that tried to jump her. She pulled up a tattered armchair to join her friends around the massive coffee table in the center of three worn-down couches in the dimly lit and cozy campus coffee shop. 

"When is everyone else supposed to get here?" Isaac asked. 

"I said 6PM in the text, so about ten minutes." Scott replied, wiping the whipped cream off of his lip. 

"Cat said she'd come after her class, so she should be here soon." Stiles said, staring at his phone, his leg jiggling in nervous anticipation. 

"You are so obsessed, dude." Cora said, as she shook her head. 

"Listen, Sassywolf, I am not obsessed. I just think she's cool and gorgeous and... She's a witch, and that, you cannot deny, is awesome."

"Yea, okay, Stiles." Cora teased.

"Yea, okay, Cora, whatever." Stiles mimicked her.  

Their ribbing of Stiles was interrupted by a knocking on the door to the coffee shop. 

 "We're closed, can't you read the sign?" Cora yelled at the door, annoyed. 

"Umm... I'm sorry, I was supposed to meet..." Cat poked her head through the door that she held ajar.

"Cat, hey!" Stiles exclaimed, a big smile spreading across his face, as he sat forward on the edge of the couch, all but jumping up at the sight of you. 

"Hi." She said quietly, quickly raising her hand to wave, and looking for a seat. Stiles moved closer to the arm on the loveseat he was sitting on, and placed his backpack on the floor, indicating for her to sit down next to him. She smiled at Stiles, her face filling with rosy color, and sat down next to him. "How are you?" 

"I'm great, yea, great, you? How are you? Did you find this place okay?" Stiles mumbled, literally biting his upper lip to stop himself from continuing to ramble.

"Yea, I've been here before." Cat chuckled quietly to herself. 

"Great, great.. oh um, you know Scott, and this is Isaac Lahey and Cora Hale, friends of ours from Beacon Hills." Stiles explained, remembering that there were other people in the room besides him and Cat. 

"Oh hey, Stiles told me about you guys. You're both werewolves, right?" She asked and Isaac nodded. "Are you students here, too?"

"Yea, we both are." Cora explained, leaning over to place her hand on Isaac's thigh, making it clear that he was taken. 

Cora got up to pour Cat a drink and hugged Ethan and Malia as they walked through the front door and took seats with the group on the last empty couch. Cora brought over more drinks and watched as Stiles introduced Cat to the newcomers and continued trying to make small talk. Lydia walked through the door and sat down next to Malia. 

 "Who's this?" Lydia said agitatedly, gesturing to Cat. 

"Lydia, this is Cat, Cat this is Lydia." Stiles made introductions. 

"The witch?" Lydia questioned. Cat nodded at the overtly beautiful redhead. 

"All we're missing are Derek and Kira then." Scott said aloud, cutting everyone off from their separate conversations. 

"Oh shit, I forgot to tell you. Derek isn't coming. Something about Braeden having morning sickness all day... I don't know how babies work. I just know he's not going to make it tonight. I'll just fill him in later." Cora said as she refilled Isaac's black coffee, and rubbed his shoulder. 

"And I don't think Kira is coming either..." Lydia said gently, locking eyes with Scott. 

"Oh.. did you talk to her?" Scott asked, trying to hide his disappointment. 

"She wouldn't answer my phone calls but I finally got her to answer my texts, and she said that she was busy. I'm sure it's just difficult to get all the way across the Bay at this time of night. I mean, it's not like she goes here." Lydia reasoned. 

"So?" Stiles quipped, contorting his face, showing his disapproval at Lydia's hollow reasoning and Kira's non-commital attitude. "You go to Standford, Lydia, and you managed to get here on time. San Francisco State is like half the distance of Stanford. We have to face the facts, Kira is trying to phase herself out of the group. She doesn't want to help, and frankly, we don't need her then." Stiles spoke matter-of-factly. 

The room was filled with silence for a few moments, as everyone tried hard to not look at Scott. 

"I'm sorry, buddy." Stiles offered to his best friend. 

"Well if everyone is here then, we should start." Scott finally proclaimed, trying to change the subject, as he pulled out papers from his backpack. He handed a few to Isaac on his right and a few to Malia on his left, gesturing for them to pass them along. "So Stiles and I worked with everyone's class and work schedules and we figured out a patrol shifts." 

"So far all three of the attacks have been on South Campus, and it's been near or in Magnolia Park. I think that's where we should focus, cause they're probably staying near there for a reason. Everyone is going to split up into pairs, about two each night, about five and a half hours each." Stiles interjected. 

"Lydia and Parrish are going to take the first shift tonight, and Cora and Ethan are going to relieve them around 10PM, and then Stiles and Cat are going to relieve them around 3AM." Scott explained. 

"Then tomorrow, Malia and Isaac have a long shift that Scott and Kira are supposed to relieve..." Stiles continued. 

"I can call Derek or Peter or Mr. Argent and see if they can pitch in if Kira bails." Scott mumbled. "We have to stop them from hurting anyone else. They've already gotten three people."

"Is there anything in the bestiary, Lydia?" Isaac asked. 

"No, which is really weird, but I've been doing research online and trying to sift out what is legend and what is truth." Lydia explained quietly, as she watched the new girl whisper something into Stiles' ear. 

"Oh, it's this book that belonged to our friend, Allison's family, and it has all this information on supernatural creatures, but stuff that's actually true, not the crap you find online." Stiles whispered loudly back to her, as Cat nodded. 

"Ahem," Lydia fake cleared her throat. "I think that either Gerard never came in contact with vampires, and they are incredibly rare, or it was intentionally left out or taken out of the pages. But from what I can gather, they really don't like the sun and I don't think the garlic thing..." 

"Do we know why they're here?" Cat interjected, causing everyone to turn their focus to the new girl. "Like, is this a reoccurring thing that happens in Berkeley, or have they migrated here from somewhere else?" Cat asked rhetorically, knowing that no one could answer that question, but that they all should be trying to answer.

"I'll make sure to ask them the next time I see them." Lydia dismissed Cat's question, annoyed at being interrupted.

"No, that's a good point, maybe they really don't exist on the East Coast and that's why you didn't think they were real." Stiles interrupted Lydia again to talk to Cat.

"What are you talking about?" Lydia questioned, growing more agitated by Cat and Stiles' back and forth. 

"Oh it was something Cat said the other day about them not being in New York... Maybe they aren't, maybe they do migrate." Stiles answered Lydia, not noticing her irritated face.

"Maybe _Twilight_ was onto something." Cat gestured to Stiles, making him laugh. "No, seriously, Washington state is sunny and warm in the summer time, but cloudy and rainy the rest of the year, and San Francisco is incredibly foggy in the Spring and Summer, so maybe they move up and down the coast attacking people and using the weather as a cover so they can go out in the daytime."

"Or maybe our presence brought them here." Isaac inserted himself into the conversation. Stiles nodded at the guess.

"I really hope that they don't start attacking, but Stiles, you should have your Dad and Parrish look up incident reports during the crappy weather months in Washington, Oregon and California for similar injuries and attacks.." Scott suggested. 

"Yea, I'll call him later... that was a great catch." Stiles smiled at Cat and patted her knee, lingering a moment too long for Lydia's liking. Cat smiled back at him, her dimples making Stiles blush.

Lydia huffed. "Well, Jordan just texted me and he's here, so I guess we should stop this Pack meeting, _plus one,_ and start our shifts." Lydia said, standing up abruptly and shoving the schedule into her bag. 

"Don't listen to her, you're definitely part of the Pack already." Stiles whispered to Cat, nudging her side. Lydia rolled her eyes, but he missed it because Cat glanced up at him, a warmth in her eyes, directed towards only him.

"Remember, we aren't doing anything to them now, just recon. That's it. We need more information before we fight them again." Scott reminded the group. 

"Oh, and before I go, I have an announcement." Lydia stated. "I thought that I could help sufficiently from Stanford, but I just can't be useful from there, so I put in an application for transfer to here for next semester. So next year, I'll be in school with all of you again." 

Everyone clamored around her, happy and congratulatory at the news, except for Stiles, who was still sitting on the sofa with Cat, devising their game plan for their patrol later that night.

* * *

 

"Oh by the way..." Stiles said as he walked Cat towards the shuttle bus that would take her from campus to her apartment. "Our friends Liam and Hayden will be up here patrolling in two weeks, on Saturday, and we got invited to this big party by this guy in mine and Scott's martial arts class the same night. Usually I hate parties but this should be decent, I was wondering if you wanted to come." 

"Oh, um... like a date?" Cat mumbled, staring at her shoes, hoping that a cute boy had finally asked her out at her new school, and a bonus that it was a boy as cute as Stiles.

"N.. no, no, no, no, no, god no, everyone is going to be there, and you can bring your roommates or boyfriend, or whoever. It'll be fun. It'll be a grand old time.." Stiles rambled, pushing his fist through the air.

"Okay, sounds great, I'll bring my roommates. I'll see you around 2:45?" Cat said as the shuttle doors closed in Stiles face. 

Isaac walked up behind Stiles and put his hand on his shoulder, startling him. "And you said, 'N.. no, no, no, no, no, god no' to it being a date because?"

"Because I'm an idiot." Stiles muttered as he walked back towards the coffee shop with the blonde werewolf. "But you heard her, right? She said she'd bring her roommates, not her boyfriend, so she probably doesn't have one, right? Oh come on, Isaac, stop running. I'll stop talking about her! ISAAC!" Stiles threw his hands up in the air as he watched Lahey jog away from him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't necessarily want their to be a reconciliation between Stiles and Lydia, especially since I want it to be clear that Lydia is dating Jordan Parrish nowadays, but I do want it to be clear that what Lydia and Stiles had was real and it's going to hurt for a while to see them with other people.


	5. The First Patrol

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat and Stiles get to know each other better on their first night patrol.

"So what are we supposed to be doing or looking for tonight?" She asked, breaking the silence. Stiles had picked her up in his old, light blue Jeep about a half hour before and besides small pleasantries, they had not spoken much. 

"Well, vampires... we are definitely looking for vampires for starters." Stiles teased, grinning as he kept his face forward, watching the road in front of him. 

"Oh good to know cause I was definitely not sure about that one." She said sarcastically back, a deep blush rising to her whole face. 

Stiles chuckled softly and continued with more sincerity. "Anything that just looks out of place, or seems shady. If you see a group of pale guys walking around at four in the morning, I think that's a group that we follow..." Stiles glanced at her, she was nodding and watching him speak. He smiled slightly and looked back at the road. 

"Okay, I can keep an eye out for that stuff... I mean, I am a New Yorker so my 'someone is being sketchy at night' radar is finely tuned." She joked.

"Is New York really that dangerous?" Stiles asked, skeptical. 

"No.. not really, but I mean, when you are a small female, like myself, and you're out late walking back to the train from like a concert or something and you're alone? You know what your surroundings are. A measure of constant vigilance is just smart, you know?" She answered honestly.

"That makes sense...." Stiles paused, not wanting the conversation to stop but not sure of where he should direct it next. "So why'd you leave New York? Left Coast really is the best coast?" He teased.

"You wish.." She smirked at him. "No, I just, I needed a change. Some weird... family stuff has happened in the past few years and I kind of wanted to escape... Don't get me wrong, I love New York - it's my home, it's definitely where my heart is - but I needed a change and besides the vampires, Berkeley is pretty great too.."

"What kind of family stuff... if you don't mind me asking..." Stiles was paying less attention to the road in front of him than he should've been and hit a pot hole that disagreed with the shocks in his car. He knew he'd pay for it later. 

Cat sighed. "It's... really complicated, but I guess the biggest thing was my parents splitting up. It kind of sucked to be around and I, I really wanted out.." She explained, trying to maintain a smile, and not really wanting to tell the whole story and unload all of her baggage on this cute boy that she barely knew. 

"I'm sorry, that definitely sucks."

"It's okay... Not a big deal." She always underplayed how big of a deal it actually was to outsiders. "What about you?... Actually!" She stopped herself mid-sentence, wanting desperately to veer the subject towards a cheerier subject. "I'm really curious as to how you became such an avid Mets fan.. did you live in New York when you were a kid or something?" 

Stiles laughed. He took any opportunity ever to talk about his beloved Mets. "No, my mom grew up there. Actually, her grandparents emigrated through Ellis Island from Poland and anyway, she just got me onto the Mets at an early age because that's what her parents raised her on."

"Okay, well that makes sense." She smiled, enjoying this conversation more than the previous one. "So how did your parents meet then? Was your Dad from New York as well?" 

"No, he's a California boy, born and raised. They met in college and she moved to Beacon Hills where he grew up and that's where they raised me."

"What do they do?" She asked, watching him drive and not watching for anything suspicious outside of the car. 

"My dad is the Sheriff of the Beacon Hills County Sheriff's Department," Cat nodded, and Stiles hesitated. "... and my mom was a teacher, but she died when I was ten so.." Stiles pressed his lips together, and stared ahead. 

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to...." Stiles shook his head, letting her know it was okay. She instinctively reached her hand over to his shoulder and rested it there for a moment. "I can't imagine how hard that was.. and probably still is." Her hand dropped back into her lap and she sat in an uncomfortable silence for a brief moment.

Stiles appreciated how sincerely and empathetically Cat comforted him, and glanced over at her. He smiled out of the corner of his mouth and made a right turn. He decided on a pit stop during their patrol that he hoped she would like. "It's okay.." He finally said, catching some eye contact with her. "I miss her but I'm grateful I got the time that I did, and at least she taught me to be better than a Yankees fan...." Stiles smirked, his nostrils flaring as the devilish grin spread across his face. 

"OH! I see how it is." She smacked her lips and nodded her head, a smirk resting on her lips as well. She paused, checking her surroundings. "Aren't we driving away from campus?" She questioned, catching what the last street sign said. 

"Yea, I figured that since this is your first stakeout, patrol, whatever, that we were missing one key ingredient." Stiles grinned and pulled into the drive-thru of a famous Californian eatery. "Have you ever had In-N-Out Burger?"

"Of course." She laughed. He gave his order into the box and she ordered a chocolate milkshake and an animal style cheeseburger, and tried to offer to pay Stiles for her half, but he refused. She smiled to herself thinking how his mother had also raised him to be a gentleman in her short time with him. She took a bite of the burger and cocked her head to the side, wiping sauce off her cheek, she smiled. "Still not Shake Shack..." She shook her head and lifted the straw to her milkshake to her small, but supple pink lips.

Stiles enjoyed the playful nature of their relationship so far. He knew that he needed someone who could dish it out as much as he always did with everyone. "Oh come on! Shake Shack is the worst. Nothing compared to In-N-Out!" He yelled as they sat in the brightly lit parking lot outside of the restaurant. 

"Have you ever even had Shake Shack?!" She demanded to know with a serious smile. 

"I mean no, but I don't have to to know that it's inferior to this." Stiles took an exaggeratedly large and messy bite of his burger, while making direct eye contact with Cat. 

Cat laughed loudly, making Stiles get butterflies in his stomach, and the blood rush to his cheeks. "Okay, well, I am very serious about Shake Shack." She grinned. "So I'll make you a deal. If you ever come out to New York, which now you have to, I will take you to a Met's game at Citifield, WHERE THERE IS A SHAKE SHACK IN THE STADIUM.." She raised her voice jokingly to make a point, eliciting a laugh from Stiles, which elated her. "and we can decide then who the real winner is." 

Stiles was grinning so hard over the fact that this beautiful and funny and interesting girl wanted to basically take him on a date where she promised to feed him and take him to see his favorite team in the world. "You've got yourself a deal... maybe a Subway Series game, then we can see who's really the best on all fronts: Mets or Yankees and In-N-Out or Shake Shack."

"You are so on." She put her hand out to shake his, letting him now that she meant business. She took another sip of her shake. "You know, my Dad is actually a huge Mets fan, but my mom, sister and I all love the Yankees, and once, when I was like seven or eight, he took us to Shea Stadium, their old stadium.." Stiles nodded, finishing his burger while she talked. "and I'm pretty sure that the Mets weren't even playing the Yankees, but I wore this huge oversized Yankees t-shirt and baseball cap to the game anyway, and I kept walking up and down the stairs near our seats and like glaring at the Mets fans..." The two of them had dissolved into a fit of giggles as she tried to finish the story. "...and all these die-hard, lifelong Mets fan.. old men kept like yelling obscenities at me and I was just like 'The Mets Suck!'" She shook her head as she remembered how ridiculous she was that day.

Stiles was still laughing. "I'm surprised no one like threw a hot dog at you or something." 

Cat covered her face with both of her hands as she laughed. "I know!.... I would've deserved it. What a little asshole." 

"Nah, I bet you were really cute..." Stiles smiled and broke eye contact, staring down at their empty wrappers. "Uh, should we head back towards campus?" He turned the keys in the ignition and listened to the engine turn over. Cat nodded and adjusted her seatbelt back over her body. Stiles watched her sipping at her milkshake. The streetlamps highlighted her face in a way that made the butterflies return as he drove back towards Berkeley, returning to their neglected patrol. "Do you mind if I put on some music?" He asked as he plugged his iPhone into his radio. Cat shook her head and listened as " _Jesus Christ_ " by Brand New began playing through his speakers. 

"You listen to Brand New?" She asked, a stunned look on her face. 

"Yea, you know them?" Stiles asked, nonchalantly. 

"...Of course.. They're from New York, they're huge around where I grew up..... I wonder what else you listen to..." She smirked at him.

"I guess you'll just have to see what comes next on the playlist tonight." Stiles was playing it as cool as possible. He did listen to and like Brand New but he played it especially because he hoped she would know them and it would give him some points with her.

"You know I can play this song on guitar?" She boasted, not being able to help herself. She hadn't felt this connected with someone since she left home and moved across the country. 

"You play guitar? I play drums." Stiles boasted back.

"The drums are super cool, and definitely way too hard for me to learn, so I'm impressed." She smiled and looked down at her feet. 

"I could teach you some simple stuff sometime.." Stiles offered. Cat nodded. "So what kind of music do you listen to?" 

Cat sucked air into her mouth and grinned."I guess you'll just have to wait and see what comes up on my playlist when I drive on Tuesday night for our next patrol." 

"Okay, okay... I see how it is." Stiles chuckled and nodded his head, sucking on the backs of his teeth. "What about movies? What's your favorite movie?" 

"Oh I do not wanna say. It's very nerdy and guys never believe me when I tell them and they end up quizzing me to see if I'm lying or something stupid like that.. What's your favorite?" 

"No, no, I asked first and, now I have to know." Stiles laughed. She really knew how to pique his interests. "I promise, I will not quiz you or make fun." Stiles lifted one hand off his steering wheel like he was taking a pretend oath to her. 

Cat took an exaggerated breath. "Fine. My favorite movie is Star Wars. Not just one, like the franchise as a whole I just love so much. Even the ones people make fun of. I am loyal to Lucas." She joked. 

"No. Fucking. Way." Stiles replied, trying to stare at her and not crash at the same time. Her eyes got really big as she looked back at him, worried about what he was going to say next. She had dug herself into a nerd grave, she knew it. "Who shot first?" 

Cat's jaw dropped, and she tried to suppress a smile. "YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T QUIZ ME!" She yelled, and playfully shoved his arm. "And Han, of course, you asshole.." She laughed. 

"Oh my god. Marry me?" Stiles joked, getting red over what he had just said out loud. Cat grinned bashfully and scratched a non-existent itch on her nose, trying to hide how red she got over that comment. "Star Wars is my all time favorite movie too. I remember the first time I saw it so vividly." 

"Me too!" She interjected, turning her body towards Stiles who was now just aimlessly and slowly driving through the Southern part of Berkeley's off campus housing. 

"Okay, your story first." Stiles insisted.

Cat giggled, and leaned her head against the headrest to stare at Stiles as he drove. She tried not to focus on the cute upturn at the very tip of his nose, or the way that he messily shoved his hair up with gel, and how she usually hated that look but for him it was really working. "Um, so we had gone up to Cape Cod to visit some family and it was 1997, so I was just five years old, and I guess it was a rainy day or something but we went to the movies, and it was in theaters because it was the twentieth anniversary so they re-released it."

Stiles cut her off. "I'm sorry, did you say that you were five in 1997?" Cat nodded. "Okay, so you're two years older than me. We're gonna discuss that later. Continue..." 

Cat laughed quietly. "Okay, so I sat next to my cousin, who is older than me, and he was already obsessed with the movies and I remember watching him watch the opening crawl and he was so enthralled and excited, and then I remember the big starcruiser ships coming into view and I was hooked. That was it. I remember it like it was yesterday. It has been my favorite movie ever since. I even dressed up as an ewok that Halloween and Princess Leia the following year.. I loved it."

"I'm going to need to see those pictures one day." He joked, the butterflies floating through his stomach again. "I was seven when I first saw it and it was a crummy summer day for me too and it was my Dad's off day and he was like 'let's watch my favorite movie growing up.' We watched it and I remember thinking that Darth Vader was crazy scary but cool and that Han Solo was the man and that Leia was like the woman I was going to marry." Cat laughed. "I was so into it that we watched all three that day, and then my mom got home and she was so pissed. She was like 'Noah, have you even taken Stiles outside today?! It's beautiful out now. Have you fed him?!' Meanwhile, my dad and I are covered in empty bags of popcorn, potato chips and candy wrappers. It's still one of my favorite memories from growing up, and it is my favorite movie still too."

"That's really cute." Cat mused, with a gentle smile. 

Stiles blushed. "The funniest part is that the next day... Scott was already my best friend at this point... I went over to his house and I was like 'DUDE! We have to watch this movie!' and Scott was like 'Meh' and he has still never fucking watched it. It kills me." Stiles laughed to himself, and saw Cat shaking her head. 

"His loss." 

"Totally."

"So how did you and Scott become friends?" Cat asked, as they continued driving around aimlessly, and two hours left before sunrise.

They drove around the rest of their patrol, not patrolling at all, but completely involved in each other's stories. They talked more about movies and food and stories about Scott and Stiles growing up, and what life was like after Scott got bit by Peter. They kept each other awake during an especially long shift and the minor crush that Stiles had developed on her grew substantially when he learned that she was so much more than just a pretty girl. She was funny, smart, quick, and had a ton in common with him. He dropped her off at her front door, waving as she got out of the car. He wanted to kiss her so badly. Nothing crazy or intense; he just wanted to see what her lips would feel like. He'd spent most of the night staring at them. He walked in the door as Scott was making coffee before his early morning shift at a local dog shelter, and crashed his body into their long faux suede black couch. 

"How was patrol?" Scott asked, his voice still hoarse from sleeping. 

"Great, man. It was so good." Stiles yawned and kicked his shoes off, a sleepy grin plastered to his face. 

Scott narrowed his eyes and walked over to Stiles, a cup of steaming coffee in his hand. "So good? Did you even patrol or did you and Cat just flirt all night?" Scott grinned a little. 

"We patrolled.... a little... there was no flirting though. I was just getting to know her, you know, talking to keep each other awake." Stiles barely believed himself. 

"Do you think she likes you?" Scott asked his best friend, in between sips of the hot beverage.

"I don't know, Scotty. Maybe. I definitely like her. She has the greatest laugh... it's like......" Stiles trailed off and just shook his head, smiling from ear to ear. 

"Alright, well try to actually do some patrolling next time in between all your 'talking' and maybe we won't have to save her from vampires again."

Stiles ignored Scott, laying on the couch with his hands folded across his chest. He drifted off to sleep thinking about how Cat looked in the passenger seat of his car, the warm glow of street lamps racing across her face as he drove. 


	6. The Second Patrol

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat picks Stiles up for their second patrol and then takes him on a late night adventure.

Cat pulled up in front of Stiles and Scott's building and saw Stiles pacing on the sidewalk with two coffees in to-go cups in his hands, and his hood pulled over his perfect chocolate brown hair. It was still early and they were the first watch that night instead of the last. She rolled down her passenger side window and shouted his name to get his attention towards the car that he wasn't familiar with. Stiles smiled and ran over to the car, grinning as she leaned over to open the door from the inside. 

"Hey... I brought you a coffee.." He lifted a cup in the air. 

"Thank you. You didn't have to do that." She smiled, took a sip and placed it in the cupholder.

"I went with milk and two sugars. Scott said that was probably safe." 

"It's perfect.... I thought we could kind of stay in the Magnolia Park area tonight, see if we could find anything around there?" She proposed. Stiles nodded and she drove off. 

Stiles wasn't used to being the passenger in the car and fidgeted with the insulated cup in his hands. He looked around and saw her phone plugged into her dashboard. He reached for the dial and turned up the volume. "I've only heard a few songs by these guys, are they any good?" Stiles asked, picking up her phone and reading the layout that read 'The National - Guilty Party - Sleep Well Beast'. 

"They are my absolute favorite band, hands down. They're like these old guys from Brooklyn, but I've seen them live a few times and they're incredible... I can change it if it's not your kind of stuff though..." She offered, feeling self-conscious about him not liking her music and thus not liking her. 

Stiles shook his head. "I like new music." He smiled, and turned the dial even farther to the right. 

He watched as her hair moved softly in the wind of her slightly cracked windows. It was a clear night for the middle of January in San Francisco, and Stiles pressed his head against the window to see the stars above them, the light pollution from the city not allowing too many to show but enough were visible. Stiles watched as she whispered the words to the song to herself, driving with her right hand at the top of the steering wheel. Her left elbow was pushed against the place where her door met her window, and she propped her head up with her hand. Stiles smiled, pulling his hood down, and relaxing into his seat. He closed his eyes for a minute, enjoying the mellow and low timbre of the lead singers voice, and the quick, heartbeat compliant rhythm of the song. He dozed off for an hour and Cat just turned down the music and continued on the patrol quietly. 

She got to a red light and yawned. Without Stiles talking to her and making her laugh, or without music to sing along to, she was getting drowsy. When the light turned green, she drove through the intersection and pulled over. He woke up when he heard the car door shut. He wiped the little bit of drool away from his chin with the end of the sleeve on his hoodie and looked around for Cat. He was disoriented but he knew that she was missing. He began to panic and quickly unbuckled his seatbelt and scrambled out of the car. 

"Cat?!" He said loudly. 

"Yea?" He followed the noise to the trunk of the car and saw her leaning against her car, with a concerned look on her face. "Did I wake you? I tried to shut the door as quietly as possible."

"It's fine, I just saw you were gone and got... what are you doing?" He asked, standing on the curb a couple of feet away from her.

"I was getting tired and I stopped to just stretch and get some fresh air. You did just catch me slacking and looking at the stars though." She said with a sheepish smile.

"Ah, these aren't great stars... you have to drive out to Yosemite for really good stars." Stiles told her, stepping forward and leaning against her car next to her.

"Hmm... I'll have to check that out sometime." She said, smiling up at him and rubbing her arm to get warm.

Stiles noticed that she was cold and began to unzip his hoodie. "Are you cold? Do you want this?" He asked.

"No, it's okay. Maybe we should just get back into the car." She propelled herself off the small ledge under the trunk hatch, wondering why she refused Stiles' sweatshirt.

"Yea, okay... If you're tired, I can drive." Stiles offered again.

"I'm better now, and if you stay up and talk to me like last time then I think I'll be good... I just feel bad making you do all the driving on these things."

"I can stay up. You shouldn't have let me nap like that." Stiles said as they climbed back into the front seat.

"You were so peaceful, I couldn't bring myself to wake you up." She admitted, as she put her car in drive and continued weaving through the neighborhoods bordering Magnolia Park, the site of the first attack.

Stiles lifted his coffee to his lips. It was cold now. He took a small sip, cringed and placed it back in the cupholder. "So... how are your classes going?"

"Really well, I like all of them, which is a relief. What about you?" She answered, glad to hear his low, husky voice ringing in her ears.

"They're okay. I have two with Scott and that's cool... You know, I don't think I actually even know what your major is..?" Stiles realized aloud.

Cat pulled over on the West side of Magnolia Park when she saw a group of three guys walking through. Her and Stiles watched them leisurely strolling through the park from afar and continued talking.  "I'm a double major in history and political science with a minor in Arabic." She answered, hers eyes trying to remain focused on the group of men instead of on the object of her affections. 

"Arabic? Does that mean that you're learning to speak Arabic?" Stiles questioned, breaking his gaze on the group. 

"And write in Arabic. It's hard because it's a whole new alphabet but for what I want to do, it'll be worth it." 

"What do you want to do?" Stiles wondered, intrigued by her choices in schoolwork.

"The goal is to go into politics in some capacity, so whether that's working for the State Department with something having to do with the Middle East, or literally becoming a politician or working at a policy center or a think tank or for a politician, I don't really care, I just want to be involved in what's going on in the world." She explained. 

"Why politics now? In this day and age, I mean." He asked.

"I get what you mean, it seems like everyone else is running in the opposite direction from politics nowadays. It's not cool or noble or anything anymore, and that's obviously not why I wanted to ever get into it, but I guess I just have strong opinions about what's going on in the world and in our country and I think that I have good ideas on how to better my community and my peer's future and I just want to be able to make positive changes in the world.... and that totally sounded like I was trying to get you to vote for me."She blushed, and covered her face with her hand. She gave him her quick interview pitch as to why she wanted to pursue her chosen career path, not certain of what he would think if she kept going on and on about how she was raised by incredibly liberal parents who raised her to be political and to think critically and to see the big picture with what was happening in the world and how she just wanted to make the world better. 

"Well..." Stiles paused, and Cat was worried that she hit a hot button issue that would push them away in common ground shared. "If more politicians spoke like that, maybe people would be excited to vote or get involved." He smirked at her.

Cat looked down and smiled, fixing her hair as a nervous tick. "Thanks... What about you? What are you doing with school?" 

"I am in the criminal justice major... I know, a real departure from my real life." Stiles joked while they were clearly on a stakeout. "I'll do anything, if that means being an FBI agent or police detective or Sheriff of the Beacon Hills Sheriff's Department, I'll do it. I just like solving a case and figuring out who the bad guy is and keeping people safe.... obviously." He laughed softly to himself. 

"An FBI Agent, huh? You never know... we could both end up in D.C. looking for jobs after school is over." She sparked his imagination with her suggestion and he grinned. He liked that she imagined a possible future where they were still in each other's lives. 

"That would be pretty cool.." He smiled at her, wide and toothy, then got shy, breaking their prolonged eye contact, and smoothed his pant legs over his thighs. 

Cat had broken off from following the group of guys from the park when they all went into separate apartments, figuring that they were just regular students who were coming home late from campus. They started driving around again, looking for a new group of suspicious people to watch, they parked near the athletic practice fields on the south end of campus as they watched a girl walking home by herself. 

"Did you play sports in high school?" Stiles asked nodding towards the fields, and wanting to get the conversation rolling again. He felt stupid for it but he missed the sound of her voice when she wasn't talking to him. It was complex. It occasionally had a thick New York accent that peeked its head out in words like "coffee, water, walk or talk". It was lower like Lydia's and Malia's but still sing-songy and sweet like Allison's was. He liked that sometimes he could hear her singing under her breath during certain points in the evening to songs that came on over her speakers. 

Cat glanced over at the practice fields, and shook her head. "Not really. I mean, I used to play soccer and volleyball pretty competitively but I ended up hurting my knees before I was even fourteen, so I had to quit and I ended up getting surgery on both knees and I don't really do either sport anymore. What about you?" She asked.

"Wow, that really sucks." She smiled and shrugged, wanting to hear what he had to say rather than telling a boring story about how she hurt her left knee playing in a beach soccer charity tournament, but she was ready to quit playing at that point anyway so it never really bothered her. Stiles continued, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand, his bicep flexing against the fabric of his shirt and hoodie. Cat tried not to stare. "I played soccer when I was really little and kind of sucked at it. It was too slow and my ADD was just..." Stiles made a gesture mimicking an explosion around his head. "I did play lacrosse all through high school though."

"No way... ugh." 

Stiles' eyes widened. "Do.. do you not like lacrosse?" 

"NOOO!" She laughed. "Oh god, I am so bummed, you were so perfect until you said that!" She smiled a toothy grin at him. 

"What's wrong with lacrosse?!" Stiles demanded to know, both broken hearted but smiling in reaction to her wide beam and comment about him being perfect.

"Maybe it was different in Beacon Hills, but lacrosse is pretty big where I grew up and the guys who play it are the BIGGEST douches. They're just like.... total lax bro assholes." She rolled her eyes, imagining certain people from home in her head. 

"Ohhh... Okay, yea, I get what you mean." Stiles thought of Jackson. "I have definitely known a few people like that on my own team, but I swear the sport itself is really fun.... You know, uhh, before that party on Saturday, that I mentioned the other night.. that afternoon, our friend Liam is coming up from Beacon Hills and Scott and I roped him and Isaac and Ethan and our friend Simon into playing a pick up game of lacrosse. You should come and watch, maybe we'll change your mind?" All he wanted was for her to say yes. 

"I would, but I have to work on a group project that afternoon... if you ever play again, let me know, I'll cheer you on." Cat told him, both letting him down and building him up in the same sentence. Stiles nodded and smiled sheepishly. "I am definitely coming to that party though.." She mentioned. 

"I was hoping you would.." Stiles admitted, getting red in the face over his own brashness.

They watched the girl safely reach her dorm and go inside. It was nearing 2:30 in the morning and Stiles' phone vibrated in his pocket. Cat was driving around aimlessly, finding no one out walking at this time of night. Cat saw Stiles' face glow white as he read the text message he got. 

"Parrish just picked up Lydia. She said that we can go home early if we want." 

"We're done for the night?" Cat asked. 

"Yea..... unless you had somewhere else you wanted to check out first?" Stiles asked.

Cat paused at a stop sign, contemplating what to do. She wasn't tired anymore and she really didn't want to leave Stiles. She didn't have class until the afternoon and she didn't care about yawning her way through it. She looked at Stiles, he was watching her think. 

"Do you have class early tomorrow?" Stiles shook his head. "Can I take you somewhere before I take you home then?" She asked.

"Where?" 

"....That'll sort of ruin the adventure, won't it?" She smiled gently, hoping he would say yes. 

"Okay... yea, I'm down for an adventure." Stiles smiled back at her, completely enthralled by her spontaneity.

She punched an address into her GoogleMaps, dropped her phone in between her legs and began driving again, this time with purpose. 

"Can I see your phone?" Stiles asked, placing his palm out next to her. 

"For what?" 

"Give me your favorite National song and I'll put it on. I liked that one you played earlier, and you have good taste in everything else so.." 

She blushed and quickly closed the map on her phone, not wanting to spoil the surprise. "You can't peek.." She warned as she placed her phone in his hand, her fingertips lingering in his palm. Stiles nodded with a grin, holding his breath while she touched him. "Put on " _England"_ , you might like that one, it's kind of... epic." She told him. 

Stiles found the song she was referring to and clicked it, handing her back her phone so she could look at the map. He heard the swell of guitar, violins and piano filling the car with sound as the song began to play. The sound of the lead singer's deep, somewhat monotone voice filled in as the drums were introduced. Stiles sat quietly, not fidgeting for once, watching her drive and trying to figure out where she was taking him. He saw the exit for the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge and knew where they were headed. Every time a song would end, she would direct him with which song to play next. She went through epic and crescendoing night drive songs by Death Cab For Cutie, The National, Radiohead, and Bon Iver, as she drove towards the Marin Headlands, the faint city lights of San Francisco following them the whole way through. He was trying really hard to not get swept up in the moment, but all that he wanted to do was slip his fingers between hers and feel her soft skin against his. He really liked that for once he wasn't the one who was dragging someone reluctantly out in the middle of the night to do something. He saw the lights on top of the massive, skyscraping orange towers blinking in the night sky as the trees began to part, revealing the Golden Gate Bridge ahead of them. 

She pulled off the road after seeing a sign that said " **Vista Point, Next Right** " with a big brown arrow pointing in the direction of the water. She pulled the car up to the parking lot and stopped, letting it idle for a few moments. They sat with the music playing, staring out over the city and the Bay in front of them. 

"Do you want to get out?" Cat asked. 

"Yea.." Stiles smiled, and watched Cat pull her keys out of the ignition and open the trunk. He got out and stretched. He heard the trunk close and saw her walk around his side of the car with a large, purple and green plaid blanket in her arms. She wrapped it around her shoulders and began walking with him. He tried to hide his disappointment over the vision he had in his head of her standing at the scenic overlook, getting cold and him wrapping her in his sweatshirt dying as she held the blanket against her body. They walked over to a picnic table that was close to the edge of the stone wall the bordered the edge of the cliff. They were all alone at that time of night. She sat on the table and rested her feet on the attached bench. 

"I haven't been here since transferring. I came here like ten years ago when my aunt lived here, and I've been wanting to come back, but I didn't have anyone that would come with me at this time of night." She admitted, adjusting the blanket around her shoulders.

Stiles looked down at his shoes, glancing at the space between their bodies on the table out of the corner of his eye. "I'm glad that you thought of me to come with you." He admitted, barely turning his head to look at her, but smiling with his big brown eyes. 

They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, looking out on an abnormally clear winter night and all of the city lights and bustle on the opposite end of the bridge. The wind picked up in small gusts, causing a chilly breeze to blow through the picnic area. Stiles shoved his hands in his pockets and lifted his hood back over his head. Cat glanced over, and grimaced. 

"Hey... do you want to..?" She pulled the blanket over so that only the right half was covering her, and held the left half up to put over his back and shoulders. 

"No, it's okay. I don't want you to get cold." 

Another gust of wind sent a chill down his spine. "Okay, don't you think I'll be warmer under here with you? Just, come here.." She moved her body next to his, her leg pressed up against his and handed him the other end of the blanket, letting him wrap it around his shoulders.

"Thanks..." He smiled and watched her shiver. Sitting shoulder to shoulder left an opening in the front of the blanket for the wind to rip through. "Uh, do you want to..?" Stiles swept his arm between her back and the tightly wrapped blanket and rested it across her shoulders.

"Okay..." She was red as a tomato, as he pulled her close to him and she snuggled into his body. She rested both of her hands on his knee and thigh and let her head sink in against his chest, and he wrapped the blanket tightly around them. Finally, the both of them getting warm. She tried to keep her breathing normal but struggled. She was really starting to like this boy and she was beginning to think that maybe he liked her too. Stiles got whiffs of her vanilla scented shampoo every time the wind blew against his face. He worried that she could hear his heart about to beat its way out of his chest. He could feel its heavy pumping in his ears. 

"Stiles?" She said quietly, not turning to look at him. 

"Yea, Cat?" 

She paused... She had a little speech set in her head, but went completely blank at the sound of his voice and the feeling of his breath against her hair. "Thanks for coming with me." She sighed, knowing that she had much more she wished she could have the courage to say. 

"Thanks for bringing me." He whispered. She nodded against his chest. "You can bring me on late night drives anytime." He built up the courage to say. 

She stayed looking straight ahead, grinning from ear to ear, and very lightly squeezed his knee. They stayed, wrapped up in each other and silent for hours, until the sun began to rise and early tourists and runners began to descend on their private overlook. Cat pulled away first, not wanting to share their prolonged moment with strangers, and Stiles followed her back to the car. 

He saw her yawn as she crumpled the blanket into a ball and threw it into the trunk. "Why don't you let me drive back?" He offered, the sun still hiding in the morning fog keeping the air gray and dark.

"If you don't mind..." She smiled. 

Stiles got back on the highway, headed the way they came, and saw her yawn again. "You can sleep a little if you want. I know the way back." 

"I might... just a little.." She said as she pulled her left leg up onto the seat, turning the side of her body against the back of the passenger seat and facing Stiles. He looked over at her and smiled. She blushed, placed her hands in her lap, and closed her eyes. As they neared the bridge that they came over, she heard _"Heavenfaced"_ by The National quietly begin playing over her speakers. " _I could walk out, but I won't. In my mind, I am in your arms."_ The lead singer crooned softly. She heard him sigh quietly. She then felt his hand lightly rest on top of hers. She kept her eyes shut, letting him continue thinking she was asleep. They stayed that way until he pulled up to his apartment and woke her. She got out to switch with him and give him a hug. She shivered in the early morning air. 

"Here." Stiles didn't ask this time, he simply unzipped his sweatshirt and placed it around her shoulders, bringing her back in for another hug. 

"I'll see you later?" She asked, a sleepy smile plastered on her face, as she hugged the hoodie around her. 

"Absolutely." He smiled back as he watched her get back into her car and drive off.

 

 


	7. The Library, The Witch & The Bedroom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat and Scott discover that they are in a class together, and a friendship begins to form between the two. Stiles, meanwhile, continues to pursue Cat all the way to the library, where he has nothing to do actually do. The two of them spend the night together before heading off on their third patrol.

"Cat?" 

"Scott? Hey, I didn't know you were in this class." Cat said as she moved her backpack off the seat next to hers in the large and loud lecture hall. 

"Yea, I saw you walk out the other day, realized you were in the class with me and so I thought I'd sit with you if that's okay." Scott asked politely. 

"Please. So how was patrol last night?" She asked in a more hushed tone. 

"Good, good..." Scott nodded, trying to convince Cat and himself. "Actually it sucked." 

"Did someone get hurt?" She inquired, concerned. 

"No.." Scott rubbed at his face. "No, uh, you know how we were talking about a girl named Kira the other night at the coffee shop?" 

Cat nodded. "The uh, kitsune.. the one that goes to SFSU?" 

"Yea, that's her. She's my ex. We, uh, we dated in high school for a while and she was having trouble controlling her powers so she went away for a bit. Then when we all found out that we were going to colleges near each other, I thought that we could get back together. We hung out a little over Christmas break, but didn't get to the level I wanted." 

"So what happened last night? Did she actually show up to patrol with you this time?" Cat wondered aloud. 

"Yea, she did, and we got into a huge fight. It turns out that she met a guy at orientation over the summer at San Fran State and they'd been dating ever since but she was too afraid to tell me so when she came to Beacon Hills for Christmas break, we hung out and she kept stringing me along and I thought that we had a chance of getting back together and then she kept ghosting me when we came back to school. Last night she asked me to bring this thing that she gave me back in high school, and she came to patrol with me and she told me the whole story about her boyfriend and it was just.... It sucked." Scott said, sipping his coffee, and rubbing the underside of his nose. 

"God... Scott, that's so shitty. Are you okay?" 

"Yea, I just, I guess I'm most disappointed that because her boyfriend doesn't know about who she really is, and she doesn't want him to know, she said that she doesn't want to keep helping us."

"Well, I don't know her but it kind of sounds like even if she was around, she wouldn't have been much help anyway. She doesn't sound very brave." Cat reasoned, trying to make Scott feel better. 

"She used to be brave. I don't know what she is now.... What about you, are you seeing anyone?" Scott asked, changing the subject. 

"Uh, no, pretty single." She fake laughed. "What about everyone else?"

"Uh, Lydia, the one with the red hair, she is dating Jordan Parrish, who you haven't met yet, but he lives in Beacon Hills. He's a sheriff's deputy and a hellhound."

"Oh... okay." Cat remarked, surprised over the supernatural diversity of their group. 

Scott continued. "Isaac and Cora have been dating since October. But the rest of us, me, Malia, Ethan, and Stiles, we're all single."

"Stiles is?" She asked quietly.

"Yea.. he is. Why do you like him?" Scott grinned a crooked grin.

Cat chuckled. "Scott, you are his best friend. I wouldn't tell you even if I did. I know where you're allegiances lie." 

Their conversation was interrupted by the lecture beginning. Scott walked Cat to their next class, both in Barrow's Hall. He mentioned that Stiles was in his next class with him and he'd tell him that she said hi. Cat walked into her next classroom and Stiles saw Scott wave goodbye to her. 

"What the fuck, man? Were you just hanging out with her?" Stiles questioned, frantically. 

"I mean, I guess? We have Western Civ. together right before this, and her class is three doors down from ours right now so we walked together." Scott explained. 

"Did she say anything about me?" 

Scott grinned crookedly again, shrugged and walked into the classroom. 

"Scott! Oh come on, man." Stiles yelled, walking after him. 

 

* * *

 

Cat stared down at her phone, trying to pick the next song to play. "Redbone" by Childish Gambino began playing loudly in her white iPhone earpods. She carried her heavy  _American Government_ textbook in her arms as she headed to the library. 

"Cat!... Cat!" Stiles yelled after her. "Cat!" He caught up and grabbed her arm from the side. 

"Oh my god." She jumped, her textbook falling to the ground and hitting Stiles square in the toe. "Oh my god... oh god, you scared me. Are you okay? You really shouldn't come up on people like that."

She pulled the headphones out of her ears, and placed her hand on Stiles back. Stiles was bent over, panting from running to catch up with her, after Scott told her where she'd be going after class. His eyes were squinting with pain as he bent over to pick up her book. 

"Yea, yea, I'm fine.. just slight maiming of my toes, but they'll recover." Stiles said sarcastically. She giggled quietly to herself, which made Stiles grin. "I, uh, saw you walking by yourself and thought I would say hi. I didn't realize how dangerous greetings were with you." 

She blushed. "Where were you coming from?" She asked. 

"Oh, I had class with Scott in Barrows. Macroeconomics.. super cool." Stiles explained, trying to remain nonchalant. 

"That's funny, I just got out of class in Barrows.." She smiled, knowing Scott had probably said something to Stiles. "Where are you going now?" 

"Uh.. where are you going now?" Stiles asked, his eyes growing wide. 

"The library. I was going to study for a couple of hours, then go home, make dinner and sleep until you came to pick me up for patrol tonight." She explained her schedule to him. 

"No. Way. That's where I'm going too... well, to the library, I mean, not to your house for food and a nap. Not unless you wanted. Uh, do you want to study together?" Stiles said, trying to recover from his word vomit.

"Sure." She smiled, and began walking with him to the library. 

* * *

 

They picked out a table and she pulled out her books. Stiles pulled out the only thing in his backpack, a notebook and a highlighter, and began aimlessly flipping through his pages. 

"Were you really coming to the library?" She asked, smiling. 

"Totally. I am just going to review my notes from my classes.. that was absolutely my plan for this afternoon." Stiles said, as he uncapped his yellow highlighter with force, and half smiled at her. 

He watched as she held her soft, flowy hair back from her face with her long and delicate fingers. He saw hints of her light purple nail polish caressing her scalp. She could feel him staring. It made the blood rush to her face. She was trying not to smile too big, but Stiles was so cute and she was nursing a really big crush. When she would try to glance up, she would catch him staring and smiling, and then he would look back down at his own work. 

"You're a little bit distracting to come here with." She whispered. 

"I am?" Stiles said loudly, warranting him a "shush" from a fellow library-goer. 

"Yea, you keep fidgeting, and tapping your pen, and shaking your leg." She laughed. 

"Oh, yea, ADD will do that to you." He remarked, gesturing to his head.

"You have ADD? I have ADHD, that's probably why you are so distracting to me." 

The same student shushed Cat too. Stiles shot a glare his way. 

"You know, I had a great time the other night.." Stiles focused his attention back on Cat. 

"I'm glad. I did too... You know, did you have plans for dinner?" She asked him.

"Can you shut up?!" The irritated student hissed their way. 

Cat lifted her left hand and flicked it up, and Stiles watched the annoying student's textbook close by itself. He opened his mouth in a surprised smile and laughed. 

"That's seriously amazing... and hilarious." Stiles told her. She smiled, looking down at her own notebook. She didn't usually show off like that, but she wanted to make him laugh more. "I, uh, didn't really have plans for dinner. I was going to just pick up a frozen pizza or something." 

"You could do that, or I was going to make this flank steak with tomatoes and shallots and some baked potatoes... it's more than enough for two people. You could always skip the frozen pizza and come over and have that. Hang out before we have to go on patrol?" The blood had rushed to her face and her cheeks were a bright pink; she was nervous he'd say no.

"Yes. Absolutely. That sounds amazing. I'm totally in. We can pick up my car and then head over?" Stiles began packing up his stuff, wanting to leave much earlier than she had planned. 

Cat started laughing a little too loudly for the library. "I knew you didn't have to study!" Stiles grinned and covered his face with his notebook. 

 

* * *

"That was so good and I am so full. Thanks for inviting me over." Stiles said as he plopped down on the couch in her living room, after helping her clean the kitchen. 

"I'm glad you liked it... But um, do you mind if we go into my room though? My roommate has a big test tomorrow morning and I don't want to disturb her if she comes out here to study.." 

"Your room?" Stiles asked, rising to his feet. "Yea, yes, absolutely, that's fine, don't want to bother your roommate."

He followed her into her bedroom. It was significantly larger than his. He immediately recognized his gray hoodie resting on the back of her desk chair and smiled, remembering how big it was on her and how happy he was to see her in something of his. The rest of the room had a large queen sized bed, a huge flat screen smart tv in the corner, and mementos of New York plastered all over the walls. 

Cat caught him looking at his sweatshirt on her desk chair and walked over to it. Picking it up in her hands, and kneading her thumbs into the soft, worn in fabric. "I kept meaning to bring this by to return it..." She said, her sharp green-hazel eyes staring at him from across the room. 

"Keep it..." She looked surprised and Stiles stumbled on his words. "Uh, you know, in case... in case you get cold.. I have a million of them anyway." He shoved his hands in his khaki pants pockets, feeling stupid. 

She smiled wide, and placed it back on her chair. "Okay, cause I do get cold kind of easily.." Stiles smiled back at her and lifted his hand to rub the back of his neck, his shirt and hoodie lifting slightly to reveal to top of his happy trail. Cat sucked the air into her lungs, and tried to hide how fast the sight of him made her heart beat. 

"What are you watching right now?" He asked, gesturing to the tv. 

"Have you ever watched Friends? I've been rewatching it for like, the hundreth time." She explained, as she sat at the foot of her bed, kicking off her shoes onto the floor. "Do you want to watch with me?"

"Are you kidding? I fucking love that show. I've seen it like a million times too."

Stiles excitedly sat down in a chair near her bed. He took note of the time on her clock. It was 8PM. They watched a couple of episodes and he began to feel lethargic. Their sleep schedules had all been thoroughly messed up since the Pack began patrolling, so the moment that they were cozy and quiet, they both felt exhausted. He glanced at her and saw her dozing on her bed. She looked angelic and peaceful.

"Um, hey, Cat..." He walked over and gently nudged her shoulder. "I'm getting pretty tired too, I think I'm going to go home and nap and I'll just come back and get you when it's time for patrol."

"You.. you don't have to go all the way home. You can nap here if you want..." She said, staring up at him hoping not to make a fool of herself. 

"I mean, I could nap on your couch in the living room but I thought that we would disturb your roommate then.." Stiles asked, not certain of what she meant.

"You could just..." She slid her body across the queen sized bed with violet sheets, and pulled his arm gently towards her. "...nap here... It's a big bed, I don't mind."

"Okay." Stiles watched her. His heart was racing. He sat on the bed and kicked off his shoes. He unzipped his sweatshirt and threw it on the chair he had just been sitting in. "I'll uh, set an alarm for like 2:30?" 

Cat nodded and pulled the covers up over her. Stiles clicked the light off and got under the covers with her. He didn't think he'd be able to sleep a wink in this close of proximity to her. He was much too excited. He faced her, but kept a respectful distance from her, the whites of her eyes barely visible in the dark bedroom. He waited for her to close her eyes, and then he did the same. Eventually, he drifted off to sleep.

They woke up to the sound of Stiles' iPhone alarm ringing loudly. His arms were wrapped around her slender and soft body, and her hands were cupped around his, keeping them in place. He smelled the now familiar vanilla scent of her shampoo as her long strands rested right under his chin. This was utter bliss. 

"Stiles... can you shut that off? It's going to wake up my roommates if it keeps going." She asked, groggily.

"Yea.. yea, it's going to wake up half the Bay Area if it keeps going. I'm sorry, I didn't realize how loud I had it."

He untethered his hand from hers and reached over to her bedside table to grab his phone and turn on the light. The room filled with a soft glow from her bedside lamp, and he turned back to see she had turned around to face him and was lightly touching one of the moles on his arm, which was still resting under her neck. He stared at her silently, breathing heavily and trying not to move from that moment. He ran the tips of his fingers along her arm. The snooze on his alarm went off, breaking the moment. She sat up and fussed with her hair, trying to make sure she still looked presentable in front of him. Stiles retrieved his arm from her side of the bed and rubbed it, trying to get the pins and needles feeling out, then shut his alarm off completely. 

"Mmm, um, we should get going." She said quietly as she looked over her shoulder at him. 

"Yea, uh do you have a bathroom I can use?" He asked. 

She nodded and pointed out in the hall.

When Stiles returned he caught her facing the opposite side of the room, buttoning the fly on her black skinny jeans. Her bare back was only covered by a royal blue lacy bra and her dark, flowing hair. 

"Oh shit, I am so sorry." Stiles said, as she turned around and caught him watching. 

"It's okay. I could've warned you I was going to change or locked the door.." She said as she pulled a long sleeved black crew neck over her head. She slipped her feet back into her navy blue, worn down Toms, and watched as he laced his Vans back up. "Should we go find some vampires?" She asked Stiles. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realize that the beginning bit with Scott and Cat in class is kind of gratuitous or stupid but I want it to be clear that Scott likes her and trusts her and is becoming friends with her. I don't want her to just be Stiles' girlfriend eventually, I want her to be a part of the pack because everyone wants her there.
> 
> Also, I clearly never thought that Kira was that great.


	8. The Third Patrol

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat and Stiles go on their third night patrol, trying to pinpoint where the vampires base of operations is. Stiles learns more about witches and his new crush. They have a run in with the vampires and get a new lead in their investigation.

"So how do you become a witch? Are you born one or does something happen to make you one?" Stiles asked as he and Cat sat in his infamous battered up, blue Jeep, watching the front door of the building that one of the alleged vampires had walked into the hour before. 

"I was born one, but sometimes you can be made one later in life. It's all kind of a long story.." She explained. 

"I mean, we've got three more hours of this until the sun comes up..." Stiles prodded. 

She laughed quietly. "Right.. Well, the gift is inherited, I guess would be the best way to describe it. I got it from my Grandfather on my Dad's side, and there are rules about how you receive it."

"What are those?" Stiles inquired. 

"My grandpa Jack, he died on May 12th, 1979, at 7:31PM. He died in open heart surgery, on the operating table. I was born May 12th, 1992, at 7:31PM..." 

"That's ominous.. Wait, so let's just settle this once and for all, how is this your first year at Berkeley if you are two years older than me?" Stiles blurted out, remembering the age difference. 

She laughed. "I did a year at NYU and then took a year off and then I transferred. So I have two years left after this one.. maybe an extra semester because of the double major." She explained with a small sigh.

"NYU, that's cool. Okay, didn't mean to interrupt."

She smiled and continued. "So you need a blood connection for the gift to be passed, but you also need that celestial, natural, magical, I don't know what you'd call it, connection. Basically, it's nature balancing itself out again. There can only be so many with the gift at once and so someone must lose it for someone else to gain it." She explained, talking with her hands in a way that he thought was really cute and endearing.

"So it's given through death and gained through birth, but the death has to be the exact same time as the birth?" Stiles asked, understanding what she was explaining. 

"Exactly, and if someone dies after you're born, but like on your birthday at the exact time you were born, you receive their gift. So your parents can try to plan for you to be born at a certain time, or back in the old days, grandparents, or great-grandparents with the gift, would sacrifice themselves at the birth of a new family member to make sure that the gift was passed, but that's pretty barbaric and obviously not how I got my gift." 

"So are you the only one in your family who has it?" Stiles continued his line of questioning. 

"No, no, my Mom is a human, but my Dad is a witch from birth, and my sister gained her powers when my grandmother passed a couple of years ago. She's a Friday the 13th witch too, so she's become incredibly powerful in a very short amount of time. The gift comes naturally to her, I guess because of her birthday." Cat admitted, staring at her hands, her fingertips beginning to fade.

Stiles reached out towards her and placed his fingers over where he knew hers were supposed to be. Her momentary invisibility began to fade at his touch. She looked up at him and stared for a few short moments.

"So why did you move across the country if you have a family full of witches to train with back home? I mean, I know that stuff with your parents happened but.." Stiles whispered, his soft brown eyes staring at their touching hands. 

She felt more comfortable letting him in on the whole story of why she left New York now that she knew him better. "So I told you that my parents split up.. I didn't tell you that it was because my Dad cheated on my Mom after almost thirty years together."

"Holy shit.." Stiles' face sunk into a horrified frown.

"Yea, he didn't really ever respect my Mom because she isn't a witch, but then he ended up cheating on her with another human and he moved in with her and it was just a shitshow." She admitted. "So he moved out to the Hamptons and we sold our place by the beach and moved in with my Dad's mom in Queens, and none of us spoke to my Dad for a while. I trained with my Grandmother... she was the best... But when she died and Margot, my sister, got her gift, she went racing to my Dad to train her... it was becoming too much like a competition with her over our powers and I just wasn't interested in continuing that. We were constantly getting into fights and she was getting a little too hostile, and she kept showing up to the house in Queens and getting into fights with and threatening my mom because she felt that I was my mom's favorite and the whole thing was just insane. So, I wanted to get as far away as possible." She whispered back, resting her head against the headrest and staring at Stiles. 

"I don't know what to say..." Stiles muttered, sitting up a little straighter. His heart sunk into his stomach over all the horrible things that she had gone through in the past few years.

"It's okay, really. It's gotten better since I left."

"It's not okay. I am so sorry that all that happened to you.... I don't know.. you're safe here." Stiles looked serious. 

She laughed, eliciting a confused look from the boy across from her. "Stiles..." She lifted her hands out of his and gestured through the windshield. "Look where we are right now!" 

"I mean, yea, there  _are_ vampires maiming people and stuff, I guess. But like, safe in general, you know what I mean?" Stiles bit his upper lip, hating himself for saying such an obviously stupid thing. "Anyway, are you the only witches.. your family.."

"No, no, the families in our area have sort of stuck together for centuries. We're known as New England witches, we're descended from like the Salem witch trial kind of witches, who were descended from witches in France... so I know a couple dozen just by me in New York. But I also met some coven witches down in New Orleans once when I was really little. They were the only ones I've ever known who live outside of Massachusetts and New York and Maine." Cat said as she leaned forward, resting her chin on her hands on Stiles' dashboard, watching the front door of the building they were staking out. 

"What are coven witches?" Stiles said, watching Cat and not the door. 

She turned her head, still resting on her hands, and faced Stiles. "Coven witches are the ones who cast spells and make real potions. Think  _Sabrina The Teenage Witch_ , but darker."

"What do you mean 'darker'? What do they do?" Stiles asked, leaning forward towards his steering wheel, to get closer to Cat. 

"I dunno exactly, actually. Most of what I know about them is stuff I've been told or rumors; I've never really met one. I was introduced to a woman named Raina Ducette when we visited the South when I was growing up, but my mom and sister and I all stayed outside while my dad and Raina talked so I've never actually met one, I guess." Stiles raised his eyebrow, inclining her to speak more. "I don't know, I've heard that they can put hexes and curses on people, though I'm not sure what the difference is between those two things, aaaand they still practice sacrifices to pass the gift to a new generation, the difference is they then resurrect their dead. Powerless at that point, of course." She divulged. 

"Like actual resurrection?" Stiles asked curiously. 

"Yea, but everything in magic comes with a price, nature has to balance back out. When you resurrect someone, someone else has to die. I've heard that they pay strangers to sacrifice themselves for money that then goes to their families or whoever. It's pretty twisted." Cat yawned and looked back at the door. "Stiles.." She grabbed his upper thigh. "They're coming out and there is more of them this time." 

"Shit." Stiles said quickly.

Stiles looked down at her hand and watched as it began to disappear again, even though he still felt it gripping his leg. He watched as his own legs and arms began to disappear as well. In mere moments, as the five large, pale, vampire men walked towards the parked Jeep, Stiles and Cat were completely invisible. 

"I thought you said you haven't mastered this?" Stiles whispered, his heart racing from both the fear of being caught and the feeling of her hand touching him in a place that could easily become intimate. 

"I haven't. It won't hold for long. You may have to drive really fast if they don't keep walking." She whispered, as she watched them approach the car. 

"Shit!" Stiles exclaimed a little too loudly. 

"They may not be able to see us, but I'm pretty sure they can still hear you." She gripped his thigh tighter, as she strained to keep them out of sight. 

"Just hold on a little longer." Stiles encouraged her. 

"I'm trying, I just don't think I can." She whispered back. 

"What can I do to help?"

Stiles wondered out loud, as the vampire that they recognized from Malia and Scott's description walked up to the rear window of the Jeep, fogging up the glass with his breath as he peered inside. Stiles took his large hand, tracing it from her hand that was on his leg, up her arm, over her shoulder, pushing her hair out of the way, and resting it on the back of her neck, gently massaging it to ease her nerves. He placed his other hand on top of hers and listened to her trying to hold her breath. They were surrounding the car now. 

Suddenly, an older man stepped out of an apartment building from across the street. The vampires dispersed, falling into the shadows in order to stalk their new prey. Cat let out a deep sigh of relief. Stiles left his hand on the back of her neck, still lightly kneading his thumb into her knots, as his arm and her body began to reappear. She was staring right at him. 

"I've never held it for that long. I.. I've never been able to." She whispered. Stiles stared back at her, not saying anything, still feeling her hand wrapped around his leg. She remembered the old man. "We should get out and follow them, in case they try to hurt that guy."

Stiles nodded, grabbed his bat from the back seat and they exited his car. They followed the group of vampires from a safe distance for several blocks, until they watched them corner the older man into a dark alleyway. 

 "I have to text Scott. We can't just stand here and watch them hurt or kill this guy. No one is going to stop this but us." Stiles exclaimed, as he pulled out his phone and began typing. 

" _Call the police and leave an anonymous tip. So far, they have left when the cops come. But follow them!_ " Scott wrote. 

Stiles got on the phone with the 911 operator.

 " _A patrol car is a few blocks away from your location, sir. They will be there momentarily, please stay at the scene._ " The emergency dispatcher said, as he began to hear sirens in the not so far off distance. 

"They're running away." Cat mentioned, as she pointed to the group of vampires running out of the alley and down the street. "We have to follow them." She took off running. 

"Son of a bitch." He took off running after her.


	9. The Worst Party Ever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam and Hayden come up from Beacon Hills to give the gang a break in patrol duty on a Saturday night. The rest of the pack go to a massive party where fights, confessions, and schemes begin to fall into place.

"Hey Scott, my roommates and I are outside, and Stiles said he went out for ice, can you let us in?" Cat said into her iPhone. "Okay, great, thanks."

 "So is Scott cute?" Hanna asked. 

"Yea, he is, and he's single too. He's kind of not over his ex though which kind of sucks, because he definitely deserves better." Cat replied.

"And how did you meet all of them again?" Sarah asked. 

"Oh, Scott sits next to me in Western Civ. and we just started hanging out."

"But Stiles is the one you like?" Hanna confirmed. 

"Yea."

"What kind of name is Stiles anyway?" Sarah questioned. Cat looked at her, furrowed her brow and then shrugged. She didn't actually know the answer to that question. 

Scott walked down the front steps of the big mansion, where music was playing inside. "Hey Cat!" He walked over and hugged her. 

"Scott, this is Hanna and Sarah, my roommates. Han, Sarah, this is Scott McCall." Cat gestured to her new friend. 

"Nice to meet you both." Scott shook both of their hands. "Everyone is inside, come with me."

They followed Scott up the stairs and through the front door, which he closed behind her. She immediately saw Isaac in the corner with Cora, leaning into each other, having an intimate conversation. Ethan was running the pong table with Malia, crushing all of their pretty female opponents who wanted to flirt with him, and Lydia was in the living room, sitting on the couch heavily making out with a very handsome, built young man with dark brown hair. 

"Is that... Jordan?" Cat asked Scott. 

"Yea, I can introduce you guys later I guess." Scott offered. "I'll get you guys beers?" Scott walked into the kitchen. 

"Cat!" Malia yelped and ran over to hug the much smaller female witch. "Oh my god, I heard you guys found something on patrol the other night."

Cat's eyes widened. "Malia, these are my roommates, Sarah and Hanna..." Malia hugged them both.

"That's great, but what about patrol?" Malia repeated, not getting Cat's hint.

Cat shook her head at Malia and went to hug Ethan and say hi. "Sarah, Hanna, this is Ethan."

"Nice to meet you. Do you play beer pong?" Ethan reached his hand out towards Hanna, a short but gorgeous girl with reddish-brown hair and blue eyes. 

"I dabble. We got next." Hanna smirked, as she took the beer that Scott offered her. "Okay, this is going to be a good party." She whispered in Cat's ear. 

"Guys, this is Simon. This is his house." Scott continued with introductions. 

"Hi Simon.. oh, you're in martial arts with Scott and Stiles!" Cat reached out to shake Simon's hand. "It's nice to meet you. They've told me how good you are."

Cat was chatting with Simon and Sarah when she heard the door open, and a familiar voice ring through above all the noise. 

"I GOT LIKE FOUR BAGS OF ICE, WANNA HELP ME OUT HERE ISAAC, CORA?!" 

"I hear Stiles has returned." Simon said out loud, as Hanna and Sarah's heads whipped around to see the boy carrying a bag of ice, as Cora carried three. 

"Oh my god, he is cute." Hanna nudged Cat in the ribs and grinned. 

"Yea." Cat's face got cherry red, and she took a sip of her beer.

"Who's he talking to though?" Sarah asked. "It looks intense." Cat stared at Stiles and didn't answer her friend.

Lydia got up from the couch and walked towards Stiles at the door. She motioned for Parrish to come over and take the bag of ice from Stiles. Cat watched as the stunning and smart, girl twirled her strawberry-blonde locks around her finger as she spoke to Stiles. She knew that Lydia was flirting with Stiles. 

"Hey man." Parrish grabbed Scott's shoulder. "Who are your friends?" 

"Hey Parrish, this is Cat Gauthier, and her roommates, Sarah and Hanna." Scott stepped out of the way. "Cat, this is Jordan Parrish, Lydia's boyfriend."

"It's really nice to meet you.. you are not at all what I imagined for a witch." Jordan said, accidentally divulging Cat's secret. 

"Witch?" Sarah asked her, confused. 

"Yea, Lydia doesn't really like me, and I guess she's calling me names now." Cat saw Scott elbow Parrish in the side. 

Parrish apologized and dropped the bag of ice off in the kitchen, then returned to the small group in the dining room. Cat made small talk with Scott, Parrish, Simon and her roommates, but couldn't keep from staring at Stiles and Lydia still talking by the front door. She watched as Lydia laughed at his joke and touched his arm, caressing her way up to his shoulder as she continued talking. She wondered if Stiles would even notice that she was there. Her jealousy boiled up inside of her. She felt stupid for feeling jealous because Stiles was allowed to talk to whoever he wanted; he wasn't her boyfriend. She began doubting that Stiles liked her as much as she thought he did. Cat watched as Hanna and Sarah went over to the beer pong table and began playing against Ethan and Malia. 

"I'm sorry... I, I, I need to step outside for a minute." Cat said, feeling the blood rush to her face, but not because of the alcohol. She looked down at her fingers and saw them beginning to disappear. Scott and Jordan noticed. Simon did not. 

"I'll come with you, there are lawn chairs out back." Scott gestured her towards the door, feeling badly over what Lydia was doing. 

She walked right past Stiles, who finally noticed her and grabbed her arm, breaking from his conversation with Lydia. She pulled her arm from his grip and walked out the door. 

"Cat! Where-" Stiles yelled after her. "Scott..." 

"Just give us a minute, I'll come get you. Just wait..." Scott put his hand on his best friends chest, stopping him, and then walked out the door after Cat. "Why are you disappearing? What just happened?" 

Cat was breathing heavily, trying to focus her energy into making herself not disappear. "What is going on with Stiles and Lydia?" She demanded to know from Scott. 

Scott walked her to the backyard and she sat down in a lawn chair. Her hands began to come back into form. 

"It's pretty complicated." Scott lamented. "Stiles had a crush on Lydia since the second grade, by Senior year of high school, it finally happened. They got together and dated. She was his first love, and he really loved her. But before even a year had passed, it started to fall apart. We got caught up in this fight, a story that's too long to tell, right before we went away for school, and the only person who could save Lydia was Jordan. He saved her from dying, and he knew how because of some bullshit mystical connection they have. It didn't matter how much she loved Stiles, she was drawn to Jordan. She cheated on Stiles and broke his heart, but Stiles being Stiles, he understood and he let her go. Lydia and Parrish have been together ever since."

"That's really fucking depressing, Scott, and not to be the most selfish person alive, but that story really makes me feel like a fucking rebound." Cat said firmly.

Scott scratched his head, not wanting to reveal too much. "Has he not told you how he feels about you?" Scott asked her. 

"No. Not even a little. We've spent a fair amount of time together the past few weeks and I have been all but throwing myself at him, and he has given me little to nothing to let me know how he feels. I thought he liked me, but now, that conversation with Lydia..." She put her hand up, indicating that she didn't even have the words to say how she felt anymore. 

"He likes you. He likes you a lot." Scott revealed, leaning in towards Cat. "He liked you from the moment he saw you. He never stops talking about you. I haven't seen him this happy in, I can't remember how long. Everyone has been giving him shit about it. Cora even called him obsessed a couple of weeks ago at the coffee shop, and he would kill me if he knew I told you all of this."

"Then, what's the problem, Scott?" She asked, exasperated. 

Scott took a sip from his beer. "He's an idiot?" He watched her lean back into the chair, cross her legs, and fold her arms, she was physically blocking herself off. "He got hurt, Cat, really hurt and it's hard to come back from that but I really don't think you are a rebound. I wouldn't let him do that to you. You're my friend too..." Scott took another sip from his beer. 

"You're a little drunk, aren't you?" She asked. 

"Nah, I just think you deserve the truth." Scott replied with a shrug. 

"You're my friend too, Scott. Just so you know." She admitted, reaching over to take a swig of his beer. 

"If you're my friend, Cat, can I ask you something you may not like?" Scott asked. She nodded. "Stiles told me about the coven witches..."

"Who did you lose?" She asked, knowing where this was going. 

"Allison...." Scott stared forward, a serious look taking over his generally kind and soft face. "She was my first girlfriend and my first love and she died saving Stiles and the rest of us a few years ago from a nogitsune and some oni...." Scott paused. "I would do anything to bring her back."

"Scott, it's complicated. These kinds of things come with a price." 

"But would it be too late because so much time has passed?" Scott begged for answers. 

"No, I don't think so, but I don't know, I'm not the expert on this. My father knows more than I do, but what I've heard is that their body and spirit and memories, they all return to what they were before, there is no darkness, nothing sinister. But nature requires a balance, so you can either let a random person die, to bring her back to life, or you can have someone willingly sacrifice themselves for her. Either way, it all has to balance out in the end." 

Scott leaned back in his chair, weighed down by the new information and by the decision that he now had to make. He washed back the rest of his beer, and placed it in the grass next to him. 

"I'll let you know what I decide..." Scott looked up towards the side of the house. "Stiles is coming."

"I couldn't really wait for you to come get me. Scott, can I speak to Cat alone?" Stiles stood in front of them, hands shoved in pockets, and wearing a frown on his usually dimpled face. Scott got up and patted his friend on the shoulder, then walked back into the house. 

"What just happened in there?" Stiles knelt down in the grass in front of Cat, resting his hands on her bare ankles. 

"What does it matter?" She asked, bitterly, pushing him away without knowing fully why. 

"Because it's obvious that you are mad at me and I don't know why. We were fine two nights ago... We were more than fine.. at least, that's what I thought." Stiles explained. 

"Forget it, Stiles." She said, as she leaned forward. 

"No. You're mad at me and I have no clue why."

Cat paused, staring at Stiles balancing himself on the grass, using his beer bottle. "Lydia was flirting with you in there." She finally admitted.

Stiles moved his hands up her smooth, freshly shaven legs, to her small, soft hands. "No she wasn't, trust me. Her and Jordan got into a fight, and she was trying to get a rise out of him by talking to me.. I'm sorry, I should've known you were here and I should've looked for you first."

"Stiles, Lydia and Jordan were all but dry humping on the couch before you walked in, they weren't fighting and she was not trying to get a rise out of him, she was trying to get a rise out of me, and she succeeded." She snipped at Stiles. 

"Why would she get a rise out of you?" Stiles asked. Cat simply looked down at her hands, disappearing in his again. "Because she knows that we like each other?" He asked. Cat raised her head to meet Stiles' gaze. She couldn't bring herself to answer him. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize what she was doing. I love Lydia tons but she used to be the head bitch of our high school and I'm certain she uses that talent sometimes still. But just to be clear, I do like you, and I do want to see where this could go because I haven't felt this way about someone in a long time and I think this could be amazing." He professed to her, grabbing her hands in his. "I'm really hoping that this isn't one-sided or else this will be the most humiliating thing I've ever done."

"It's not one-sided." She assured him, leaning her head forward to rest on his shoulder.

He leaned his cheek against her head, and ran his hands down to her hips, over her dress. "Are we okay?" He whispered. 

"Yea, we're okay." She whispered back.

Stiles leaned back to look at her. "So, did you tell Hanna that Ethan is gay?" 

"No, why?" 

"She's inside laying it on thick for him... They're in there like grinding up on each other.." Stiles explained. 

"Why don't we go join them?" She said with a grin. 

"Definitely."


	10. The First Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat and Stiles finally receive some clarity and share an intimate moment, in the midst of the aftermath of the loss from the night before. Meanwhile, Scott makes a difficult decision.

"So how'd last night go, besides you know..." Scott asked Stiles, as he sat in the chair in the corner of Stiles' bedroom. 

"Well, I told her I liked her finally."

"Dude!" 

"Yea, I know, and she sort of said it back... but not really, so that's going to have to be clarified eventually. Cat and I danced a bunch. One of her roommates hooked up with Simon after you left. Then I walked them home, and Cat agreed to go on a real date with me, but still hasn't kissed me and I think might still be pissed about Lydia, since apparently you told her that whole story because you're an ass." 

"I'm sorry, buddy, but I was trying to help you out." Scott said with remorse. 

"Yea." Stiles sat on his bed, across from Scott. "But honestly, I was dreading having to tell her about Lydia, so you kind of saved me from having that conversation, so whatever."

"No problem, buddy...." Scott paused. "I talked to her about the coven witches and Allison last night." He divulged. 

"How'd she react?" Stiles asked. 

"I don't know.. worried?"

"Do you think Gerard would ever do it?" 

Scott shook his head, unsure of the answer to that question that Stiles and him had been throwing around ever since she mentioned the coven witches to Stiles. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Stiles went to answer it and saw Cat standing in the doorway with her hands full. 

"I thought you all could use some breakfast and coffee." She said, lifting both up as an offering.

"Hey, you." Stiles pulled her in against him, and kissed her on the top of her head. He grabbed the coffee from her, and she closed the front door. 

"Cat brought you all breakfast sandwiches and coffee." Stiles yelled from the kitchen. 

"Can you not yell? Liam is still asleep." Hayden said from the dining room table, gesturing to the sleeping Beta on the pull-out couch.

"NOPE!" Stiles said, throwing a breakfast sandwich at the couch, and seeing Liam pop up with his fangs out. "Oh put them away, and come eat, ya freaking Beta." 

Scott and Liam stumbled into the kitchen to receive their fuel. They all sat down at the small, round table that Scott and Stiles had in their dining room. Stiles stood against the counter, his arm wrapped around Cat's waist, sipping his coffee and breathing in the vanilla scent of her hair. 

"So what happened last night?" Cat finally asked. 

"They killed her." Liam said quietly. 

"Who's her?" She asked. 

"One of the girls who was flirting with Simon last night got pissed and left early because Simon was making out with Sarah. Liam and Hayden were busy following the others in their neighborhood on the South Side of campus, and no one thought that we needed people on the North side, but we were wrong." Stiles explained. 

"They bled her dry, and it was our fault." Liam said in an aggravated tone. "We should have been there."

"It's not your fault, Liam." Scott interrupted his Beta. "We shouldn't have taken the night off and left it to you. Beacon Hills is your responsibility, not Berkeley." Scott sipped his hot coffee, and stared straight forward, weighted by his decisions. "This is starting to get out of hand though." Scott lamented to his pack.

"This was the third attack?" Cat clarified. 

"Yea, but the first one where someone died... I think her name was Lilah." Stiles said. 

"Liam, Hayden, you need to go back to Beacon Hills and protect everyone there. We'll take care of things here." Scott reassured them. 

The werewolves continued eating their breakfast and Stiles pulled Cat into his room and shut the door behind him. He grabbed her and held her tightly against him, burying his head in her hair. She gripped the back of his t-shirt in her fingers, and pushed her face into his chest. 

"I'm so glad I took you home last night and I am so glad you're okay." Stiles whispered to her. 

"Stiles, I am so sorry about last night. I sucked. You didn't do a single thing wrong, but I've been... I've been pretty insecure because I wasn't sure about what was going on between us and I think I just kind of lost my shit last night." Cat admitted, as she pulled away from Stiles and sat down on his bed. 

Stiles followed her over to his bed, and sat down next to her. He picked her legs up off the side and slid them onto his lap. "It doesn't matter. None of that matters, I promise. I like you so much. You like me, right?" Stiles asked her, gently stroking her hands. 

"Of course I like you." She replied. 

"Then all that matters to me is that nothing happened to you last night and that you're here now." 

He leaned forward and slid his hands in her hair, his thumbs reaching around, and pressing against her cheeks gently. He stared into her eyes for a moment, they were the perfect shade of hazel, always changing between green and gray and blue depending on what she wore. He leaned in slowly and pressed his lips against hers. She lifted her hands to grip his biceps and pressed her lips back against his. 

He pulled his lips away from hers and pressed his forehead against hers. Her hand pressed up against his chest, his cotton shirt felt soft on her fingertips. Her heart was pounding. She wanted more.

When Stiles pulled his head away from hers, he noticed that his favorite pair of Vans were floating in the air behind Cat. He glanced around and noticed that everything that wasn't heavy or nailed down, was levitating in place. 

"Cat..?" He said softly, as everything crashed back to earth around them. "Did you even know you were doing that?"

"No..." She laughed quietly, and covered her mouth. "I guess I was feeling a little um.. weightless.." She smiled. "Do you think anything broke?" 

"Who cares, as long as my baseball bat is good." Stiles teased. She rolled her eyes and smiled. 

They were interrupted by a knock on Stiles' door. 

"Ugh... Yea, come in." Stiles yelled, sighing, as he pulled at her legs to get her body closer to him. "What's up, Scotty?"

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I think we need a better plan than what we're doing here. We're losing." Scott looked so serious.

"I agree, but what can we do? We don't know anything about vampires."

"I think we need to take a couple of days and go back to Beacon Hills." Scott said, looking very serious. 

"What'd you have in mind, man?" Stiles asked. 

"We need to talk to Gerard."


	11. The Deal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott, Stiles, Isaac and Cat go to Beacon Hills to speak to Gerard about the missing pages of the Bestiary.

 Stiles stood in the Beacon Hills County Sheriff's Department with Cat. He brought her with him so that she could meet his Dad and finally get to see Beacon Hills, even if it was just for a day or two.

"Dad, this is Cat Gauthier... Cat, my Dad." Stiles gestured back and forth, a wide, mischievous grin spreading across his face.

"Hi Sheriff, Stiles has told me so much about you." Cat shook his hand. 

"Well, Cat, I'm glad to finally meet you, my son has told me literally nothing about you because he never calls. Is he going to class, Cat?" Sheriff Stilinski questioned her, while staring at Stiles. 

"Dad.." Stiles whined. 

"Umm.." She looked back at Stiles, who had sat down and was shaking his head while smiling. "Well, he has two classes with Scott and I'm pretty sure he goes to those.." She answered. 

"Except for today..." The Sheriff said with a raised eyebrow. 

"Today is Sunday, so I don't have class but tomorrow is a personal day, Dad." Stiles said as he rose from the couch in his dad's office and grinned. Noah shook his head at his son.

"So where's Scott and why do you need to talk to Gerard Argent?" The Sheriff asked his son, concerned as to why he came home on a random Sunday in the beginning of February. 

"Scott and Isaac are talking to Mr. Argent and we need to talk to Gerard about the Bestiary. Lydia has this theory that someone tore the pages out that mentioned the vampires. We all agreed that it's hard to believe that Gerard never came in contact with any." Stiles explained. 

"I've gotta say, Stiles, you couldn't find a school that didn't have vampires and witches and who knows what else?... no offense, Cat."

"None taken, I was looking for a school like that too."

"It's not my fault that Scott and I are thrust into these situations. Anyway, we're fine, Dad, we've got it under control." Stiles reassured his father, as he patted him on the shoulder. "Scott texted me, we've gotta go." He hugged his Dad. Noah sighed, knowing if he wasn't able to control his son when he was still under his roof, he certainly couldn't do it when Stiles lived in Berkeley.

"I'm on patrol tonight with Parrish and Derek. We've got a small wendigo problem that we're working on, but I can still take you out for dinner. I'll see you both at 7?" Sheriff Stilinski asked. 

"See you at 7, Dad." Cat waved and followed Stiles back to his Jeep. 

* * *

 

They crowded the small room, stepping over crumpled up tissues, covered in an unidentifiable black substance, that littered the floor. The yellow flowered wolfsbane that Chris had given his father years ago had lost its effect and the black oozing blood had returned. Stiles and Cat stayed back against the walls, watching as Chris Argent, Scott and Isaac spoke to the decrepit, old man in the wheelchair, in the middle of the room.

"And why isn't she a part of the deal?"

"Because she can't offer you anything that Isaac and I can't offer you, Gerard. If you tell us about the vampires, we will both take away your pain." Scott stepped into Gerard's view of Cat.  

"Well, Scott, that just isn't completely true. I know a witch when I see one, don't hide behind these boys." Gerard said, as he stared at Cat, wiped black blood from his lips, and gestured for her to come closer. "I know what you can do for me."

Stiles held her behind him with his arm. "Don't talk to her, Gerard. That's not why we're here. We brought Scott and Isaac to take away your pain. She can't do anything for you."

"They don't know what you're capable of, do they, young lady?" Gerard taunted them all from his position of power and knowledge. 

She stepped out from behind Stiles' arm and into the better lighting in the middle of the room. Stiles followed her closely, concerned with what was about to happen. "I can't do what you want me to do... Not anymore."

"Someone stole it from you then.... interesting." Gerard surveyed Cat, deciding what to do next. 

"I might be able to make the bleeding stop though... at least, on the outside. But you have to tell us everything about the vampires, and you have to do that first." She bargained. 

"Okay, that's enough of that." Stiles said aloud as he grabbed Cat by the hand and the group funneled out of the room and into the hall, closing the door behind them. 

"I'm not the only one who has no idea what's going on right now, am I?" Isaac asked dryly. 

"Yea, what were you two talking about?" Stiles asked, frustrated and confused. "Who stole what from you?"

Cat leaned her back up against the wall, and stared down at her shoes. She sighed. "Each family is bestowed with one gift of healing, but the catch is that it goes to the strongest witch. Before my sister received her gift, that witch was me. Then two years ago, when my grandmother died, and Margot was imbued with her power, the gift of healing transferred over to her. It was like the life was being sucked out of me.... it was horrible and painful and I really don't like to talk about it." She finished speaking and looked up at the four men in front of her, all quietly nodding, trying to understand. 

"So what can you do for him now that he wants more than what Scott and Isaac can do?" Mr. Argent asked. 

"I can make the bleeding stop. It won't take away his pain. You can still use that as leverage for something else later on." She said, as she looked Scott's way. "But I can make that.... black crap stop coming out of him. It'll be fine. It's harmless... let me do this." Stiles reluctantly nodded.

The group walked back in and Gerard told them of how he made a deal with a group of vampires to never come to Beacon Hills in exchange for their pages of the Bestiary. He told them the little that he remembered of what was on the pages and what of the myths and legends surrounding their species was true. He then told them that he made the arrangement because, while he had convinced them that he knew the secret of how to kill them, he did not actually know how, but he had to get them out of his town. Gerard then looked to Cat. 

"I did my part, time for you to do yours." He said, with a crooked grin on his face. 

"You don't have to do this." Stiles whispered to her. 

She kissed Stiles on the cheek and walked towards Gerard. "You need to get him standing straight." She instructed Isaac and Mr. Argent. No matter what he says or I say, once it starts, it has to finish or we'll both be contaminated..." Mr. Argent nodded. 

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She placed the palms of her hands over each other, interlocking her thumbs over the backs of her hands. She dragged them up her arms and then back until only her fingertips were touching. Her hands began to faintly glow. She opened her eyes and stepped forward towards Gerard, where she then placed her hands, her fingertips still touching, on his stomach, and dragged them slowly up to his throat. 

"I hate this so much, it's not even funny." Stiles whispered to Scott in the background. 

She took one more deep breath and turned to Scott and Stiles. "Don't stop this until it's over, no matter what happens."

"Cat..." Scott interjected. She proceeded. 

She placed the backs of her hands against each other, in between hers and Gerard's faces, and then extended her arms. Her right hand covered his mouth and her left hand covered her own. Gerard began to squirm, trying to wriggle himself free of Isaac and Mr. Argent's hold. Then he began to scream, the sound barely muffled by Cat's delicate fingers. 

Suddenly, Cat began to shake, her veins turning black and engorged. Stiles and Scott stepped towards her, while Isaac turned his gaze away, expecting the worst and not wanting to witness it. Gerard continued screaming until Cat pulled her hand away from her own mouth and began violently vomiting the black bile that was in Gerard's body. Scott rushed over to her, placing a trashcan under her.

"Oh my god, I'm going to be sick." Stiles commented from the background, gagging and turning white. "We have to stop this, look at her." Stiles stepped forward to stop her.

"Stiles we can't! We don't know what will happen if it doesn't finish." Scott restrained his best friend.

"It's killing her!" Stiles positioned himself behind the girl he had come to care so much about in such a short amount of time, and gathered her hair in his hand. He rubbed her back and whispered inaudibly in her ear. 

Cat was hunched over, her hand still covering Gerard's mouth, the two of them shaking violently, as the dark magic coursed through their bodies. The chunky black substance, filled up the floor by her feet overflowing from the first trashcan, until Scott grabbed a second trash can and put it underneath her. Gerard finally passed out from pain and the dark liquid began to slow from Cat's mouth. 

The black blood slowed to a trickle from her lips, as Stiles stood behind, holding her up at her waist, begging her to stop. Finally, the poison stopped falling from her lips, her hand fell from Gerard's mouth and she went limp in Stiles' arms. 


	12. The Berkeley Morning News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Weeks have passed since Beacon Hills and no attacks had occurred. Stiles' anxiety over Cat's safety has reached a new peak, as he watches her sleep every night. A new murder is found and Cat and Stiles reach a new level in their relationship.

> _"Isaac, my girlfriend is basically dying and you're about to flood my engine. Can you not break my car?! Who.. who even invited you to come here!" Stiles shouted, as he cradled Cat's head in his lap in the backseat of his Jeep._
> 
> _He heard the faint sound of Scott's motorcycle following behind them as they made their way to the animal clinic. He tried to concentrate on whether or not she was still breathing, but he kept getting distracted by the dried, black blood in the corner of her mouth and on her neck that he couldn't wipe off with his sleeve._
> 
> _"Call Lydia again and see if she can hear anything about Cat... CALL HER AGAIN, ISAAC." Stiles demanded, fear devouring his voice._

* * *

"Stiles, if you're going to sleep here to watch me and make sure I'm okay, the least you can do is shut off the TV and sleep in the actual bed with me." She whispered in his ear, as she leaned her head over his, gently rubbing his back to wake him up.

He had fallen asleep in the chair next to her bed again, watching her chest move up and down as she slept, until he, too, dozed off. Stiles groaned and swatted at the air, trying to get Cat to let him sleep. She looked at the clock at the bottom of the local news playing quietly on her TV. It was early; light just barely starting to come through her curtains. 

"Stiles, come sleep in the bed." She whispered again in his ear.

He swatted at her once more and missed. She leaned back over, running her fingertips through the hair on the back of his head. He quietly cooed at her gentle caress. She wet her lips, leaned over, and gently kissed the back of his neck. He moaned softly. She kissed his neck again. His hand slid over the sheets, looking for her body. She moved down and whispered in his ear once more. 

"Okay, okay, I am awake." He shot up in the chair, groggily, and stretched out his arms. "You should always wake me up that way."

She grabbed his wrist and pulled him into bed with her, his large body landing on top of hers. 

"Shit, Cat, what are you doing, I could've hurt you!" Stiles exclaimed, as he rolled off the bed and onto the floor, in an overly dramatic fashion. 

"I'm fine, Stiles, just please get in bed with me. Please..." She reached out her hands towards him and waited for him to make a decision. 

Stiles placed his hand in hers and climbed under the covers with her. "I just keep waiting for there to be a side effect from you doing what you did for Gerard... I'm scared.. it was horrible to watch, and it's just hard to believe that nothing will come from it."

She snuggled up against Stiles' chest, the gray cotton of his shirt rubbed against her face. "We called my Dad and we saw Deaton, they both said I was fine. You've got to believe that that's true."

Stiles nodded and pulled his arms around her body, his left hand running through her dark strands of hair, while his right hand cupped her elbow. He felt her breathing on his chest, as he watched the early morning local news report on the lecture series at the University.

"Cat.. Cat, wake up." Stiles sat up straight in bed, and lifted Cat by the arm. "Look at the TV!" Stiles scrambled over Cat to find the remote. He turned up the volume. 

" _We are now able to confirm that Mary Henley, one of the first attack victims in Magnolia Park, this past January, has been brutally murdered by her boyfriend, Zachary Pillit. Pillit was also a victim of the attacks on January 20th at Magnolia Park. The current whereabouts of Pillit are unknown, and the police chief is calling this the 'most brutal' crime scene he has seen in decades. Henley was a...._ " Stiles turned down the volume on the TV. 

"I don't understand.. nothing has happened for weeks. We've been back from Beacon Hills for three weeks and there have been no attacks, why did they suddenly attack that girl.... and this is the first time they've gone after the same person twice." Cat asked, as she started to search for more information on her computer. 

"I don't think that this was the vampires, I think this really was the boyfriend.." 

"So I saved a homicidal maniac?" Cat said, staring at Stiles with a deadpan look. 

"Okay, Gerard didn't know two things: how they were made vampires and how to kill them, right? That right there..." Stiles pointed to a line in an article on Cat's computer. "It says that he was an honors student with a job lined up at Apple after he graduated this semester. He had no priors. I don't think he was a murderer. I think he was a vampire. They had bit him or scratched him or something in the neck that night. I saw the wound, it was deep. What if it turned him?" 

"So then we need to check in on the other victims, right?" Cat asked. 

"Yea, we do.... Is your door locked?" Stiles asked, eliciting a confused look from Cat. 

"My bedroom door? No.. Should it be?" 

"No, no, the front door. Is the front door locked? You just have the one lock on it, right?" Stiles got out of bed and began pacing the floor. 

"Yea, it's one lock, why do you ask?" She watched as he paced around her bed. 

"You need to start sleeping at my place. We have two deadbolts and a regular lock and a werewolf... all around, it's safer." 

"You have all those locks because you live in a crappy neighborhood..." 

"Just.. you know, okay? You.. agh." Stiles ruffled his hair and furrowed his brow, the frustration showing in the wrinkles on his forehead. "I just... and you are... mmmf." He put his finger out, signaling her to give him a minute. 

"Stiles..." She crawled out from under the sheets and grabbed him as he walked by the foot of the bed. She pulled him by his t-shirt to keep him in place. "What's wrong?"

Stiles sat down on the bed next to her, staring at his hands in his lap. "I know that we haven't had 'the talk' yet, but in my head, you're my girlfriend, and after what happened in Beacon Hills with Gerard... You were out cold for an entire day after and you coughed up that black shit for a week. I was so... if something happened to you, and I could've stopped it, I would just lose my fucking mind. I just want to keep you safe, Cat. The vampires, they saw your face and Scott's and we don't know if he know where you live. I don't want to lose you, and it would make me feel so much better if until we got a better handle on the vampire thing that you start staying with Scott and I."

Cat stared at Stiles for a moment, then pushed him backwards onto her bed, got on top of him and began kissing him; her hands running through his soft, messy brown hair. He wrapped his arms around her back and held her tight against him. 

 "Wait.. wait..." Stiles pulled Cat's head away from his. "Is this a yes?" 


	13. The Second Victim

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lydia and Stiles discuss the past and their current relationships and mend fences for good, while on a mission to find the second attack victim, a UC Berkeley student named Bridget Keller. The gang figure out what the vampires have been doing.

"Do you actually think that Cat and Scott have a group project for a Western Civ. class?" Lydia asked, breaking the silence in her small Toyota Corolla. 

"I don't think that they absolutely had to work on the project tonight..." Stiles replied, glancing over at Lydia. 

"Mmm.." Lydia didn't know what to say in response. She sat in silence for a minute more, waiting for the traffic light to turn green. "We used to be better at this, Stiles."

"I know.." Stiles fidgeted with his hands. "You know, I never thought that I'd get over you and Parrish. I thought that I'd hate him until the day that I died..." He began admitting. 

"Stiles... you don't need to do this." Lydia interjected, her voice quiet and cracking. 

He kept his voice low and as steady as he could muster, trying to choose carefully the words he would say to her. "No, no.. I do need to. I was crushed, but then I saw that connection between the two of you and I just knew that it was over. I was done. When you were missing and I followed him because he could just 'feel where you were' and then he found you, and the way you looked right past me and went straight for Jordan... Like I said, I knew it was over." 

Lydia's big eyes began to well with tears. She wouldn't dare take her eyes off of the road in front of her. She knew if she looked at Stiles, she would lose it. 

Stiles continued. "It sucked... for so long." Stiles let out a frustrated chuckle. "But then I saw Cat in Magnolia Park... she was so impressive and brave and funny.." Stiles laughed to himself again, remembering the parts of that night that struck him the most. "I remember she was pelting them with like small rocks and flowers with the roots and dirt still attached, just to deter them further while she tried to literally pull a metal bench out of cement. I just thought she was hilarious and clever and resourceful and I got it. It was instantaneous. The more I've gotten to know her, the more I get what happened between you and Parrish.. and maybe I'm not supernatural myself, so maybe there isn't the same kind of magical pull or spiritual connection or whatever, but it feels like there is."

"Do you.. do you love her?" Lydia mustered up the courage to ask. 

"Yea.. I think I do.. or at least, I am definitely starting to." Stiles answered, staring at Lydia bite her lower lip and nod repeatedly. 

"I'm sorry about the party. I knew what I was doing was wrong, but the human ex-girlfriend side of me.. it wanted to hurt you for moving on. My world didn't feel right knowing you weren't in love with me anymore." Lydia admitted, the shame oozing out of her voice. 

"We worked it out..." Stiles looked off in the passenger seat window, not wanting to look at her porcelain-skin cheeks turn pink with embarrassment. "As long as Parrish is good to you..."

"He is. He's the kindest man.." Lydia trailed off, not wanting to rub the idea of Jordan in Stiles' face. She glanced over to see Stiles lightly nodding and contorting his face. "I'm happy for you, Stiles... I really do want you to be happy."

Stiles smiled slightly out of the side of his mouth. He wanted to move on from the drama that came from that night. He just wanted to be friends with Lydia again and not have to worry about it ruining his new relationship. 

"You know, I feel bad, I don't really know anything about her. She seems smart, and she's really pretty.." Lydia commented. 

"What do you want to know about her?" Stiles asked, always happy to be talking about Cat.

"Whatever you want to tell me." 

"Well, she is really smart, she speaks French and is learning Arabic and speaks a little German. Her parents split up when she was in high school and that was really hard on her but, I don't know, she seems to be okay now. She's really quick, and funny and sarcastic, but she's really kind and brave and loyal. She's a Yankees fan, so that's a flaw.. but she's like... hilariously a New Yorker. She's got this thick accent that she tries to hide but it comes out when she's mad. She's all like, 'fuck awfff', it's so funny. She's very rough and tough New Yorker... I like it. She's really thoughtful and romantic but at the same time adventurous and spontaneous. She's honestly perfect. OH and she got Scott to finally watch Star Wars. That alone was amazing." Stiles was smiling, staring down at his fidgeting hands. 

"So you're dating the Yankees fan, female version of yourself... She sounds like someone I'd usually be friends with.." Lydia reluctantly commented. 

Stiles laughed. "I guess I kind of am.... and I hope so...." Stiles replied. He paused as he glanced at Google Maps on his phone. "I think this is it up ahead.." He pointed to a small bungalow in the middle of a residential street. 

Lydia pulled over a few houses up, and sat in the car with her foot on the break. Stiles knew from her behavior that something was not right. 

"Lydia.." 

"Something doesn't feel right.." Lydia threw the car into park and bolted out the door towards the house. 

"LYDIA!" Stiles yelled after her, struggling to get his seatbelt off quickly enough. He pulled her keys out of the ignition and chased after her. He caught up to her knocking frantically at the front door. 

"Bridget... Bridget Keller, please open the door. Bridget, are you okay?" Lydia shouted into the thick wooden door. 

Stiles walked over to the window and peered inside, cupping his hands over his eyes. "Oh god... I see something in the kitchen." 

He ran to the back of the house and opened the backdoor that was already ajar. "Lydia, call the cops." 

Lydia walked up behind Stiles and peered at the shredded body on the floor. ".....Is it Bridget?" She asked, eyes welling up with tears. 

"I don't think so... Bridget was blonde... in her Facebook pictures, right?" Stiles asked as he snapped a few shots of the carnage on his phone. "God, this smells horrible."

"What's our cover to the police for why we just walked in their back door?" Lydia asked as she waited to hit call for 911. 

"Let me think..." Stiles walked out into the backyard, nervously biting his thumbnail and pacing. "Oh, uh, do you have any pictures of Prada on your phone?" Stiles asked. 

"Of course." 

"Okay, well then, we'll just say that we were walking Prada yesterday and he got loose and we've been canvassing the neighborhood and that should be good enough, right?" 

* * *

 

"Okay I just got off the phone with the police department up there and all she could tell me was that it was Bridget's roommate, a girl named Madison.. uh, that she used a kitchen knife and that Bridget is the main suspect but they have no idea where she is right now." 

"Parrish, do you know if they're linking this murder with the first victim's murder yet?" Scott asked, speaking into the speaker of Lydia's phone that was sitting on the coffee table in front of all of them.

"She said that they were aware of that connection but they think it was just a coincidence for now." Parrish said over the phone. 

"Alright, thanks man. That's a lot of help."

"Anytime, guys." Parrish replied.

Lydia picked up the phone and took it off of speaker. "Okay... Yea, I'll see you tonight." She glanced up at Stiles for a moment, and then turned away, trying to hide her face. "I love you too." She whispered and then hung up.

"Okay so I know my dad says that three is a pattern and two is a coincidence, but I have a theory." Stiles said, sitting down on the couch with Cat and Scott. "Zachary, the first victim, he was bitten but not killed. Bridget, the second victim, she was bitten but not killed. The third victim, Lilah, the girl at the party, she was bitten and killed, fourth victim, bitten and killed, five through.." Stiles counted his fingers. "...nine were bitten but not killed, and ten was bitten and killed. I think that if we dig into the ones who were killed, we'll see there was something wrong with them.. Something that the vampires don't want."

"What do you mean 'don't want'? Do you think the vampires are making them kill people?" Cat asked, confused.

"No, no.. well, maybe, I don't know exactly yet, but I think that it's one of two things: either the vampires are making their victims kill people, which makes less sense, or more likely, you don't get turned when you get bitten, you get turned when you bite someone and then kill someone." Stiles explained his theory.

"So you think that the victims are being turned into vampires?" Scott asked.

"Yea, I do, and Simon told me that Lilah was diabetic, so maybe the ones that they killed weren't strong enough to survive the turn...?" Stiles speculated.

"I can live with that theory - it makes sense." Cat said. Lydia and Scott nodded their heads.

"All right, let's start figuring out a game plan then." Scott said confidently. 


	14. The Parents Weekend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Parent's Weekend has come and the mothers, fathers, and surrogate parents of Berkeley's underclassmen have descended upon campus. The pack has a large family dinner. Sheriff Stilinski questions Cat, and Scott, Stiles, Mr. Argent and Cat's dad, Tom Gauthier, finally have a discussion.

"So why is your Dad coming and not your Mom?" Scott asked Cat, who was on the other side of Stiles.

"My Mom couldn't get out of work and he kept saying 'if he's paying for Berkeley, he wants to see me there.'" Cat rolled her eyes.

"Maybe your dad will have some information about the vampires that he'd be more willing to share in person.." Scott reasoned.

"Maybe your dad will be able to convince you to take the martial arts class with Scott and I so that I don't have to worry about you." Stiles said, frustrated, flailing his arms.

"Hmm... nah." Cat replied, snarkily.

Stiles opened his mouth, shocked and frustrated by her sass. "Why won't you just take it. Caaaat, come on." Stiles whined. 

"I was forced to take tae kwon do in high school and I hated every minute of it.... I'm not saying that I got knee surgery to get out of tae kwon do, but I'm also not saying that I didn't milk it for way longer than was real..." She said facetiously, a smug grin spreading across her face. 

"I hate you, you know that, right?" Stiles glared at her, as they all walked home from campus.

"Mhmm." She smiled as she glanced down to see her hand intertwined with his. She squeezed his hand, and he glanced down at her, a smile turning up his lips. "Maybe, like boxing or krav maga or something, I just don't want to do martial arts."

"Krav maga would be cool, you could see if Cora and Malia want to do it with you?" Scott suggested. 

"That's a good idea."

"Now I hate the both of you." Stiles said as he closed the front door of their apartment behind him, watching Cat walk through his bedroom door and drop her backpack on the floor. He followed after her, seeing a trail of her backpack, coat, one shoe, the other shoe. 

"So you hate me, huh?" Cat said with a grin, standing on Stiles' bed, pulling her shirt over her head, and tossing it to the ground. Stiles stepped back, cocked his head to the side, and then closed his bedroom door behind him. 

"I definitely... definitely don't hate you." Stiles said as he rushed to the bed, watching Cat drop down to her knees.

He wrapped his hands around her back and pulled her close to him. She placed her hands in his hair and began kissing him. She sucked on his bottom lip and he moved down to her neck. He kissed across her collarbones and her shoulders, pulling the straps of her bra down as he moved along her body. She moaned quietly at his touch. He moved back up to her lips, his tongue slipping into her mouth, as she moved her fingers to unbutton his purple flannel shirt. Stiles heard her phone vibrate against his hardwood floors.

"Cat, that was the third time your phone went off, maybe it's important..." Stiles said, holding Cat's arm as she reached to pull his t-shirt off.

"It's fine, just leave it." She said as she went to kiss his neck, pulling his shirt off over his head.

The phone went off again.

Stiles dropped to the bed beside Cat. "Damnit." He sat up and looked for her jacket. "Here, just see who it is." 

"I have six missed calls from Hanna and Sarah.." Cat said as she hit play on a voicemail left by one of her roommates.

" _Hey, so I just let your dad into the building but you're not here... sooooo Lamb and I are just going to keep trying to call you... or try to get Scott or Stiles' number from Simon since you're probably with one of them. Okay call me back._ " Hanna spoke frantically over the voicemail.

"Oh my god.. I completely lost track of time... I have to go." Cat said as she searched the floor for her shirt. "I'll see you at dinner later tonight?" She said as she ran out his bedroom door. 

"Yea, see you later." Stiles yelled out the front door of his apartment, as he pulled his t-shirt back over his head.

* * *

Cat opened the door to her apartment and saw Scott and Melissa McCall, Stiles and Sheriff Stilinski, and Derek and Cora Hale waiting to be let in. She stepped out of the way, gesturing for everyone to step inside. Malia and Ethan were already sitting at the table with Isaac and Mr. Argent, and Cat's dad, Tom. 

Cat grabbed Stiles' arm and pulled him into the kitchen. "Just to warn you, my dad is pissed because it's really obvious that I have not been sleeping here for most of the semester and he's probably going to talk to you at some point."

"Okay, well this is horrible. I haven't even met your dad and he hates me." Stiles said, his eyes widening with anxiety and fear.

"Did your dad bring his gun? Actually it doesn't matter, Scott can probably just protect you." 

"What?!" He whisper-yelled. "Are you serious?"

"It'll be fine, just let him yell at you and then talk about wanting to be like your Dad or talk about the Mets."

"Is that even going to work?" Stiles asked. Cat shrugged.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I was wondering if I could help." Sheriff Stilinski said, halting the conversation. 

"Dad, did you bring your gun tonight?" Stiles asked, as he checked his dad's belt. 

"...No, and get off me. I'm in a room full of magical creatures and we're having dinner, I thought I could leave the badge at home for one night." Noah retorted, shaking his head at his son. 

"I can't count on you for anything, can I?" Stiles narrowed his eyes at his dad, before catching Cat motioning her head for Stiles to go back out to the party. "Ugh, if you hear a loud thud, I've literally died of terror." Stiles complained as he left the kitchen.

"I wanted to see if you wanted some help, thought it was a shame that I didn't get to spend much time with you when you were in Beacon Hills but you know, as far as excuses go.." Noah rambled.

"Uh, yea, I mean, I'm almost done but if you could watch the peppers for me, I can finish the pasta." She handed him a wooden spoon, and then went to work cooking. 

"So where did you learn to cook?" Noah asked.

"My mom, and my dad, I guess. They're both really excellent cooks. Do you cook much, Sheriff?" She asked, nervous about where the conversation was going.

"No, no, not too much. Probably for the best too, I was never as good of a cook as Stiles' mom. Uh, Stiles tells me that you're a history and political science major with a minor in Arabic? Did I get that right?"

"Yes, actually you did. It's a lot of work but I really like my classes, and Stiles and I even signed up for a few poly sci classes together for the Fall. It should be fun." She replied, smiling, happy that the conversation was going well. 

"And you're from New York? You a Mets fan?" 

"Yankees..." She answered reluctantly, wanting to make a good impression on the Sheriff.

"Oh that's too bad, we are definitely Mets fans in the Stilinski house... Uh, Stiles also tells me that you're a witch..." Noah stated, nervously.

Cat stirred her vodka sauce for a few moments before answering. "I am."

"Do your roommates know about all of this?" 

"No, not yet. That's why they're not here tonight. They're out with their parents right now." She explained.

Sheriff Stilinski put his spoon down on the counter and turned to Cat. "I hate to ask this but I need to know, are you the kind of witch who can cast spells or make potions or anything like that?" 

"No.. in that respect, I am no different from Dr. Deaton. My real power lies in my telekinesis and energy fields and invisibility and the occasional card trick." She joked, trying to lighten to conversation.

"So you can't make a love potion or something like that?" He asked.

"......No, nothing like that.... Why do you ask, Sheriff?"

"I didn't mean to intrude or imply anything, I just thought my son would never get over Lydia Martin, especially after what she did to him. Hell, I haven't even forgiven Parrish yet and I work with the guy... But the last few months, since Stiles met you, he has been so happy and so.... normal with you, I just, I had to make sure that you didn't spike his lemonade or something." Noah explained. "I just haven't seen my son this happy since his mother died, and I had to make sure it was real. I hope you didn't take offense."

Cat shook her head, lightly smiling as she stirred her sauce more. "No offense taken, Sheriff, I get it. I'm glad that I have made Stiles so happy. He makes me very happy too. You raised.... the best son." She said, her smile widening. 

"Is dinner ready yet? I am dying out there with your dad." Stiles burst through the kitchen door.

Cat nodded and pointed to the plates on the counter, prompting Stiles to set the table.

Everyone sat down at dinner and discussed school, work, the wendigos in Beacon Hills and the vampires in Berkeley. When dinner was over, and most people were helping to clear the table and get dessert set out, Scott, Chris Argent, Stiles and Tom Gauthier sat at the table on Cat's terrace. 

After an hour, when dessert finally made its way onto the table, Cat went out to retrieve the men from the balcony. Her dad and Mr. Argent walked back inside to join the others.

"So what'd he say?" She asked, half closing the door behind her, blocking their exit. 

"The irony of all of this is going to be astounding." Stiles remarked. 

"Mr. Argent is going to head back to Beacon Hills with Isaac tonight to talk to Gerard."

"So he'll do it?" She asked, excited.

"Your dad agreed to it. He's going to set up the meeting for Easter weekend, when we're on Spring Break." Scott told her.

"We've gotta book tickets to New Orleans then, Allison is going to be the new Jesus." Stiles said jokingly, placing a hand on Cat and Scott's shoulder, as they walked back into the apartment. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you haven't figured it out yet, Allison is coming back!


	15. The Big Easy Resurrection, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang goes down to New Orleans in order for the coven witches to bring Allison Argent back to life.

> _Scott, Stiles, Cat, Lydia, Isaac, Parrish, Derek, Cora, Ethan, Malia, Liam and Hayden sat in Cat's living room, discussing what was about to happen. The usual side chatter and snarky comments were not to be found that day._
> 
>   _"So Derek is going to be up here and Liam and Hayden are going to be on call if you guys need extra help while we're away.... Listen, if we could do this after we dealt with the vampires, we would, but we're running out of time." Scott explained to his pack._
> 
> _"So Gerard agreed to do it... willingly?" Malia asked, lacking tact._
> 
> _"He agreed. He knows he dying and even though he's a jackass..."_
> 
> _"I think you mean 'absolute sociopath.'" Stiles interjected._
> 
> _"Okay, yea, even though he's totally a sociopath, I think that he genuinely loved Allison. He wants to give her another shot." Scott explained to Malia and everyone else. He was being very stoic and matter-of-fact about the whole meeting that night._
> 
> _"So the cancer came back?" Parrish asked, uncomfortable about crossing the line into sacrificing people, even if that person was Gerard Argent._
> 
> _"Yea, and it's worse than last time, he's got weeks left.. at best." Isaac interjected, wanting to back up Scott and Chris' decision._
> 
> _"And how are we going to explain the fact that everyone thought she was dead for... years? People saw the body..." Ethan asked, the skepticism in his voice apparent. He couldn't understand why they couldn't bring Aiden's body along and bring him back to life as well._
> 
> _"Ah, I'm glad you asked." Stiles answered, a mischievous grin spreading across his face, the kind he got when he knew that he came up with a good plan. "I've got Braeden backdating paperwork stating that Allison was in the witness protection program and that the government faked her death to keep her safe." Stiles rubbed his hands together, as he explained the plan._
> 
> _"Safe from whom.. is that actually going to work?" Ethan questioned again._
> 
> _Stiles raised his hand and glared at Ethan. "I could put your name down, you're insane and dangerous."_
> 
> _"She'll make it work.. She is an actual U.S. Marshal again after all." Derek answered, stopping the bickering._
> 
> _"It'll all work, you guys, they've been performing this ceremony for centuries... It'll work." Cat reassured the group._
> 
> _"We'll be back with Allison by Monday." Scott said, wrapping up the pack meeting._

* * *

Cat watched from her window seat as Chris Argent directed the luggage handlers on how to load the casket into the cargo hold of the Argent family plane. She looked around and saw the pensive faces of Scott, Melissa McCall and Dr. Deaton, settling into their seats and preparing to take off. Stiles walked back to sit next to her, buckling his seatbelt in and taking a hold of her hand. 

"Now that everyone is aboard, please fasten your seatbelts. The safety demonstration will start momentarily, and we will begin taxiing shortly after. Thank you." The flight attendant said from the front of the small jet, as Mr. Argent buckled himself in next to his father, Gerard.

"You okay?" Stiles asked, squeezing Cat's hand gently to get her attention from the window.

"Yea, just nervous... Did Gerard say anything to you two when you were getting him strapped in?" She asked Stiles and Scott who was sitting across from the couple.

"Yea, he wants to talk to you and Deaton before we land. I think he has some questions about what's going to happen." Scott answered. 

"I don't know how much I can even answer. I don't even know that much. Did you tell him that I'm only here because the coven witch requested it?" She asked, the panic sinking in. 

Stiles rubbed his hand up and down Cat's arm, trying to calm her. "He knows that, and don't worry, Deaton can probably answer some questions." He reassured her.

The flight was finally in progress and Cat sat down next to Dr. Deaton, across from Chris and Gerard. Stiles, Scott and Melissa settled into the seats adjacent to hear the conversation, and keep an eye on Gerard. 

"Why didn't the cleansing work?" Gerard asked. 

"It did.. it stopped the black blood from coming out of your body. That was all that it was meant to do." Dr. Deaton answered for Cat, in his usual wise and calm tone. 

"Did it bring the cancer back?"

Cat looked to Deaton; she had wondered the same thing for a few weeks. "No. Derek's bite wasn't a forever cure. That would have only been the case if he had actually turned you." Deaton spoke up again. Cat sighed quietly in relief that she didn't cause a man to get mortally sick. 

"Isaac and I could smell the cancer the last time we were with you, before she even did the cleansing." Scott interjected.

"Will it hurt?" Chris asked, knowing that Gerard wanted to know the answer, but knowing that he would never ask the question. 

"My father said it won't." Cat said finally. 

"Then let's just get this over with already." Gerard leaned his head back, grimacing and closing his eyes. 

* * *

They drove through the black wrought iron gates of an old New Orleans cemetery, and Cat felt the power around her. Chris, Stiles, and Scott unloaded the casket as Dr. Deaton and Melissa escorted Gerard inside. Cat followed closely behind, but stopped in her tracks at the sight of a tall, older woman, dressed in a black robe, with flaming red hair and bags under her eyes. 

"Catherine Aurora, oui?" The tall woman spoke in French. Cat nodded. "Ca va?" The women asked.

"Bien, et toi?" Cat spoke back, hesitantly. 

"Bien. It's good to finally meet the future of New England's witches. My name is Sylvie Renee Ducette." Her accent was thick only like those who had New Orleans running through their blood for centuries. "Why don't we go inside and talk while we wait for dusk?"

Cat nodded and followed her into a room, where the whole group and some older coven witches sat waiting for them. Cat sat down next to Stiles and Melissa, and took Stiles' hand in hers. She could feel the magic floating through the air, and she hoped that Stiles could anchor her back to reality. 

"Bonjour. Je m'appelle Sylvie Renee Ducette...... and I will be the one performing the Transfert tonight. It's good to meet y'all." Sylvie stood in front of the group and folded her hands in front of her. "Does anyone have questions?"

Everyone sat in silence, looking around at each other for a few moments. Finally Scott spoke up. "How long does it all take?"

"We'll begin in an hour, and it will take about an hour after that. The Transfert must be complete at the moment that the Sun finally sets." Sylvie remained standing at the front of the room, waiting for further inquiries. 

"What will she remember?" Melissa asked, quietly.

"Tout." Sylvie answered. Melissa looked to Cat to translate.

"Everything." Cat said.

"So, she'll remember dying?" Stiles questioned, skeptically.

"Oui. She'll remember. She'll remember everything, but what has happened in the in between. She'll have all of her old memories and feelings. She'll be your Allison Argent once again." 

"And it doesn't matter that she is.... a decayed.... corpse now, you said she would look the same, right?" Cat confirmed awkwardly. Sylvie nodded.

"Will she be healthy?" Mr. Argent finally piped up, trying to maintain his composure. 

"Like nothing ever happened." 

"Will she be darker?... cause I feel like in movies, when they do this, you come back like evil or whatever... and you know, when we did this, I came back a nogitsune, so...." Stiles wondered out loud. 

Sylvie smiled softly at Stiles' question, and chuckled before answering. "This ritual is very different than the one he performed." She glanced carelessly at Deaton. "Unless she was dark before, she will not be dark after."

"So she'll just be Allison?" Scott clarified.

Sylvie nodded, and then turned her attention to Gerard. "I'll let you say your goodbyes, but then we must take him and the body to begin preparing them. You are all invited to witness. Someone will be in to fetch you shortly." With that, she turned and left the room, the other coven witches following behind her. 

Everyone sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Make sure Allison knows who did this for her." Gerard announced to the room. "Make sure my legacy lives on through her."

"Thank you, Gerard." Scott said sincerely, as Gerard scowled at the young Alpha.

* * *

They watched as they laid Gerard on a large stone slab next to Allison's decaying corpse on an adjacent stone slab. The coven witches placed large metal bowls below the four corners of Gerard's table.

They then poured oils and flowers over Allison and Gerard's bodies. They wrapped Allison's torso in clean, white, linen cloth, and began burning sage around the room. 

"Cat, what does 'Transfert' mean?" Scott whispered.

"Transference. It's the name of the ritual." She answered.

Stiles leaned over to whisper to Cat. "This is much less disturbing than I imagined." Cat turned her head and simply looked at Stiles, seeming concerned, but before Stiles could find out what was wrong, Sylvie began speaking.

"We are going to begin now. A warning: do not break the seal around the tables or else the ceremony will not take." Sylvie said to the guests, standing against the wall. 

Sylvie then turned her back to the pack and began touching implements on the table in front of her. One of the younger coven witches walked towards Gerard and began an incantation, he then laid his hands on Gerard's forehead and chest.

Gerard let out a long, loud breath. "C'est parti.... c'est parti." He said softly. 

"What'd they just do?!" Chris Argent asked. 

"They took away his pain... C'est parti.. it's gone." Cat whispered.

"Completely?" Stiles questioned. 

"Completely." The concern still shrouding her face.

The room then filled with coven witches, who began chanting in a mix of French and Latin. After a few minutes, they closed their eyes, bowed their heads and began to whisper their incantations. 

In one swift and sudden movement, Sylvie turned around and slit Gerard's throat with a short scythe. Cat and Melissa gasped. Scott and Stiles winced, looking away. Stiles wrapped his arms around Cat and tucked her head into his neck. She peeked out from under her hair to see Chris intently staring at Allison's still lifeless corpse. Scott yelled for Sylvie to stop, as they all watched her move her way around the table, slitting Gerard's wrists and calves. Deaton held Scott back from disrupting the ritual.

Blood poured out of Gerard, as he gasped for his last breaths on his own. The bowls under the corners of the slab filled with the red life force, and Gerard became more and more pale. The chant grew louder as the flow of blood began to slow and the sun began to set. 

As the last bits of blood dripped from the table, four coven witches broke from the group and picked up the bowls from the dusty ground. They poured Gerard's blood over Allison's corpse, and then stepped away. The sun went down and the room went dark and silent. 

"ALLUMER!" Sylvie said forcefully, as suddenly all of the candles in the room illuminated with flames at their wicks and a massive gasp for air was heard from Allison's stone perch. 

Allison gasped for air again and jolted forward, sitting up in place. Her hands frantically roamed her face, trying to wipe the blood off. Scott and Chris Argent rushed towards the table. Her skin was her usual porcelain perfection underneath and her hair, while matted down thick with wet blood, was it's previous silky brown splendor. The corpse was gone and was replaced by Allison Argent.

* * *

 Stiles helped Scott get Allison into the car, but paused when he noticed that the only one not loading in was Cat. He looked around for her for a moment, and then saw her standing outside of the mausoleum, speaking with Sylvie, who had her hand on Cat's shoulder. Cat nodded her head at Sylvie who turned to re-enter the structure where the Transference had just taken place.

 "What'd she just say to you?" Stiles asked as Cat approached him outside of the car.  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No joke, this was one of my favorite things I've ever written. Please let me know if you enjoyed it.


	16. The Big Easy Resurrection, Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat and Stiles discuss the conversation that Cat had with Sylvie Ducette, the coven witch who brought Allison back to life, after the ritual. They finally move their relationship to the next level.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SMUT. finally.

Stiles closed the door to their hotel room behind him, and watched as his girlfriend sat down on the edge of their king sized bed. She rubbed her fingers into her eyes, as she leaned forward, her feet hanging over the floor. 

"Cat, what did Sylvie say to you before you got in the car?" Stiles asked, standing in front of her.

Cat sighed. "She said that the only reason that they did for us in the first place was because Gerard was the sacrifice. He... I don't know, fucked with their coven a long time ago, and they wanted him dead." She explained, as she then covered her mouth, thinking about what she had just facilitated.

"Is that all?" 

"No.. then she said that what she was going to tell me next was because she liked me and she thought I was powerful." 

"That's ominous." Stiles began biting his nails.

Cat raised her eyebrows quickly in agreement. She pushed her hair out of her face and continued. "Sylvie said, and I quote, 'You need to look to your studies, Catherine Aurora, they hold the answers you'll seek..... for something is coming your way.'"

Stiles narrowed his eyes, pushed his head forward and threw up his hands. "That's literally the most ominous thing I have ever heard. I hate the coven witches. Really, I do, I hate them.... Was there more?!" He was now pacing and biting his thumbnail.

Cat nodded. "I asked her if it had to do with the vampires, and she said 'Mon cheri, non. You know how to take care of them already.'" Cat imitated Sylvie's French-Cajun accent.

"Whaaat? What does that mean? Then what?" Stiles asked, his anxiety radiating off of him. 

"Then she said 'A bientot', and walked away." 

Stiles put his hands up in front of him. "I don't speak French..." 

"It means 'see you soon'." She sighed.

Stiles opened his mouth to say something, then closed it and frowned. "Maybe it's because I just watched her kill a man, but I swear, I think only that woman could make 'see you soon' sound like a threat." Stiles said, exasperated. 

"I know..." She sighed, and Stiles finally sat down next to her. "Look to my studies? and something is coming our way, and.... I now have like a hundred more questions than I had before today started." She placed her hand in his. 

"I know, and I do too, but we can't answer any of them until we get back to school, so why don't we just try to get to bed, and we'll be back in Berkeley tomorrow." Stiles suggested. 

* * *

Cat turned off the bathroom light and fussed with her hair. Stiles watched her as she walked to the window, her ass cheeks hanging out of the bottom of her lacy, blue boy short underwear as she reached to pull the curtains closed. She climbed under the covers with Stiles and wrapped her leg over his. Her skin was smooth and soft. She nestled her head into his chest, as he sat propped up against his pillow and the headboard. 

"That was... so emotionally taxing... and I didn't even know Allison." Cat admitted to Stiles. 

"Yea, it was, but I still think it was the right thing to do." Stiles replied, as he brushed her hair with his fingers. 

She reached her hand under his t-shirt and rested it over his heart. She closed her eyes. "It's amazing the lengths that Scott has been willing to go to in order to get Allison back. He must have really loved her." 

Stiles paused for a moment. "You know, if something ever happened to you, I would have gone to the ends of the earth to bring you back too. I would just go insane if I lost you. I'd find a way to get you back. I'd just have to."

Cat sat up on her knees, her hand retreating from under his shirt. "You're saying that you'd sacrifice someone to bring me back to life?" She asked. 

Stiles sat up straighter in bed. "Yes. I'd find someone and I'd bring you to Sylvie. You're obviously important to her."

"I don't have any grandparents left to sacrifice, remember?" She reminded him. 

"Fine, then I'd sacrifice myself, if it meant that you'd be alive in the world doing good again, I'd give my own life." Stiles said firmly. 

"Stiles Stilinski, if you ever brought me back into a world, where you didn't exist, I would never forgive you." Her voice got caught in the back of her throat and her eyes began to well up as she spoke. 

Stiles, caught up in the moment and his strong feelings for Cat, and took her face in his hands. He pressed his lips hard against hers. She threw her leg over his, and began straddling him. She pulled his shirt off over his head, and he reached up under hers, feeling the warm skin over her spine against his fingertips. Stiles pulled her close to him and kissed her harder than ever before. He kissed her frantically.

Stiles paused and looked at her for a moment, his eyebrows raising. She nodded in consent. He pulled her t-shirt off of her and took in the curves of her body. He felt the blood flowing quickly to the lower half of his body. 

He began kissing her neck, and she lost herself in the kiss, eyes closed, head rolling backwards and hands lightly tugging at strands of his soft brown hair. Stiles moved his lips down to her shoulders, which made her moan slightly. He began reaching behind her, trying to pull the covers off of his legs. 

When he was finally successful, he wrapped his arms around her and swung her onto her back, laying on the bed facing him. He kissed her lips for a few moments, as he laced his fingers up with hers and placed her hands above her head. He began kissing his way down her body again. She moaned softly, as he dragged his tongue down her neck. She then let out a loud exhale as he kissed her breast. 

Her hands squirmed under his, wanting to grab at him, but he kept her arms pinned above her head. Her back arched towards him as he lowered his mouth and began sucking on her nipples. 

"Stiles..." She managed to whisper, breathlessly. 

Stiles finally released her hands and moved his lips to her stomach. She ran her fingers through his hair, tugging lightly as he left wet, long kisses down to her belly button. He reached up and grabbed a fistful of her breast in his hand. He massaged them slowly as he began kissing below her belly button. She moaned loudly, and began rotating her hips below him. 

"Stiles....." She whispered, slightly propping herself up. Stiles glanced up at her, his hands gripping her hips. She paused for a moment. "I need you." She admitted. 

"God, Cat." Stiles whispered back. 

He quickly leaned forward, cupping his hand behind her neck, the other resting against her cheek. He tilted his head to the side and kissed her hard on the lips. He somersaulted off of the bed and rushed to find his wallet. He pulled out a condom and began ripping at the packaging as he rushed back over to the bed. 

Stiles pulled his basketball shorts and boxers off and left them on the floor. She watched his tricep flex as he rolled the condom onto his erect shaft. He climbed back onto the bed and knelt over her. He leaned over to kiss her again, his hands working their way down her body, to the fabric hugging her hips. He pulled at it and heard a rip. He looked down and saw a tear in the lacy underwear leaving indents in her soft skin. 

"Oops..." Stiles said quietly as he looked at Cat. She softly smiled and shook her head.

She lifted her ass off the bed and he pulled her panties off, throwing them on the floor. He went back to kissing her, one hand holding hers above her head, the other was searching for her pussy. She moaned as he positioned himself on top of her, and pressed his thick cock against her dripping opening. He dragged the tip to get it wet and used it to lubricate the rest of her pussy. As he rubbed his wet tip against her throbbing clit, they both moaned in unison. He finally guided his dick back towards her pussy and glided right in.

"Oh god." Her body shuttered, as she let out the words breathlessly. 

Stiles moaned loudly as he began sliding back and forth inside of her. He scrunched his face and closed his eyes, and concentrated on what he was doing. She watched as he bit his lip. She loved every inch of his face. She pulled his head towards her for a kiss, with her free hand. 

"Oh fuck, you're so tight." He said, a worried look on his face. 

"Go slow." She whispered. 

She wrapped her legs around his waist, and he ran his hands into her long strands of hair. He began kissing her wildly on the lips, stifling her moans as he thrust deeper into her. Her fingernails dug into his biceps. The position she created by wrapping her legs around him made it easy for him to bury his cock deep inside of her. He thrust and thrust, and watched as her tits bounced with each hit. He began fucking her faster. 

He sped up and thrust harder and deeper, then he let out a great moan. He pushed all of his weight into her pussy and she felt his huge dick throbbing inside of her. She moaned as he pushed his cock as hard as he could inside of her; her sharp fingernails digging into his shoulder blades. 

"Stiles..." She said, panting. 

He bent down and kissed her neck and jawline, working his way back up to her lips. He kissed her lips long and hard, and smoothed her hair out of her face. She stared up at his big brown eyes and felt euphoric. 

He climbed off the bed and walked into the bathroom. She heard the sound of the condom falling into the plastic wrap around the trashcan. She rubbed her forehead and sighed. He walked back into the room with a towel that he handed to her.

"I've been wanting to do that for months, but I am so glad that we waited until now." He said to her, as he leaned over and kissed her bare stomach. 

"I am too." She said with a smile, playing with his hair in between her fingers, as he rested his head on her stomach, his arms wrapped around the rest of her body. "I don't want to leave this hotel room." She admitted quietly. She felt him nod his head. 

"Let's just lock ourselves in here and never go back to school." Stiles joked. Cat laughed and shut her eyes. She'd dream about just that tonight. 

 


	17. The Roommate, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott has remained in Beacon Hills since returning from New Orleans with a live Allison Argent. The gang continues in their fight against the vampires back in Berkeley without him. Stiles, Cat, Isaac and Cora brainstorm about how to kill the vampires, Cat and Stiles have a discussion about their relationship status, and an abduction changes everything for the Pack.

"How did she even know what classes you were taking?" Isaac asked, as he relaxed on the couch in Scott and Stiles' apartment.

"I don't know... they're coven witches, they're creepy as fuck." She answered, somewhat exasperated.

"They really are though, man. Basically everything she said to Cat was deeply disturbing." Stiles interjected. 

"Isaac, are you going to make yourself useful?" Cat asked, tilting her head to the side and grimacing at the handsome, blonde werewolf.

"Yea, yea, sorry." Isaac sat up and caught the notebook that Cat threw his way. 

"I don't think that there will be anything about whatever is 'coming our way' in my American Government notes, but you know, it's good to be thorough." She said about the notebook she had just tossed to Isaac.

"How are we supposed to look for something that we don't even know about yet? 'For something comes your way' is really vague." Stiles asked, as he flipped through Scott's Western Civilization textbook. 

"I don't know... ugh, fuck. You're right. I have no idea what we are even looking for." Cat said, frustrated, as she shut her History of Ancient Mesopotamia notebook. "We should just table this for now and go back to the vampires."

Stiles rubbed her shoulder, and kissed her on the cheek. "We'll figure it out, I promise." 

Cat nodded. "So what do we have?" She looked up at the dry-erase board that Stiles had brought into the living room, from his bedroom, with all of the ways that they had found online and in books on how to kill a vampire.

"Okay, well, considering it won't be sunny around here for a while, or at least sunny enough to kill them, that can be taken off." Stiles said aloud, as he crossed off that option with a red marker.

"What about the silver bullet?" Isaac asked. 

"I feel like that's a myth only related to werewolves, right? I'd cross it off." Cora said, as she emerged from the kitchen with beers from their fridge, sitting next to Isaac. 

"Yea, there was not enough evidence that that one would actually work." Stiles said as he crossed that off the list as well.

"I think the wooden stakes to the heart seem like they could be... reputable. They're in most of the older books I found so there's probably some truth to it." Cat said to the group. Isaac nodded in agreement. Stiles put a check mark next to 'STAKE TO THE HEART' on the board. 

"Fire?" Isaac asked.

"Fire is a 50/50, I think. I'm not positive it would work, I'm not positive it wouldn't. I don't like those odds though." Stiles explained.

"Can we not do fire until we run out of the other options?" Cat asked.

"Bad witch memories?" Isaac asked, facetiously. 

"They aren't good." Cat glared at him. 

"Cat makes a good point. In the same way that it seems like silver is used for werewolves, fire is definitely used to kill witches, and considering you are a New England witch, I think keeping you away from fire is probably a good idea." Stiles erased fire from the dry-erase board with his sleeve. 

"I have no issues with decapitating those creepy assholes." Cora piped up, pointing to the last option on the board.

"Decapitating seemed to have some good results in the research, especially in regards to werewolves and vampires." Stiles pointed out. 

"Did you see that in one of the Twilight movies, Stiles?" Cora grinned. 

"No, I read it on the wikipedia page, and also, shut up, Cora." Stiles glared at the younger Hale wolf.

"I read it in some other books too, so I don't know, that maybe is an option." Cat agreed with Stiles. 

"Are we missing any?" Stiles asked.

"What'd they kill Dracula with?" Isaac asked. 

Cat pulled her computer onto her lap and began typing. "It says... Dracula was ultimately killed with a bowie knife." She said, looking up at Stiles.

"Maybe we should put that on the list, just in case." Isaac said, as he watched Stiles then scribble it onto the white board.

"Okay..." Stiles placed the cap back on the marker, and stepped away from the board. "Those look like reasonable options... I'll have Scott talk to Argent and see if he has a bowie knife he can bring back." Stiles sat down in the chair that Cat was leaning against. She positioned herself in between his legs and wrapped her arms around his calf, resting her head against his thigh. 

"You know, Scott's not going to want to hunt and kill them." Isaac noted, as he took a sip of the beer that Cora brought him. 

"I know, but we need to have the back up plan in place either way." Stiles argued. 

"What do you think Scott will try to do instead? Run them out of town or something?" Cora asked Stiles and Isaac. 

"After he heard about how Gerard got rid of the vampires from Beacon Hills, I think he'll try to make a deal with these ones too." Stiles explained, rubbing the back of his neck. 

"When does he get back anyway? We have finals in a couple of weeks." Cat mentioned, looking up at him. 

"I don't know, last time I talked to Argent, he said that Scott basically hasn't left the couch in Allison's bedroom since she got back to Beacon Hills." Isaac said, glancing at Cora to see if she was alright.

They're relationship had been somewhat strained since Allison had come back into the picture. Cora was suddenly doubting that if Allison was alive, if Isaac would have ever dated her in the first place. Isaac had spent the past few weeks trying to reassure Cora that he and Allison were never that serious and that when he heard what she said to Scott, as she died in his arms, he knew that he and Allison were never meant to be. Cora was struggling to believe him.

 "I talked to Scott this morning and he's just not ready to leave her yet." Stiles shrugged. "We're kind of just floating here though without him, just waiting for them to make their next move." 

> * * *

Cat zipped her pants back up, and bent over to grab Stiles' boxers off the floor. She threw them at the bed and then went looking for her shirt. She buttoned her shirt up and sat back down on Stiles' bed, rubbing his leg over the thin sheet covering his naked body. 

"Can we talk about something really quick before I leave?" She asked him. 

"Yea.. is everything okay? 'Can we talk' is never a good conversation starter." Stiles sat up in bed, his slight happy trail peeking out from above the covers.

"Everything is fine.. sorry." Cat smiled and leaned forward to kiss him. "I wanted to ask....." She sighed. "I don't know how to put this... I wanted to ask if we are exclusive."

Stiles narrowed his eyes at her, confused. "Well... you're my girlfriend so I thought we were exclusive." He said, the concern evident in his voice. "What's going on?" 

"How many girls have you had sex with?" Cat asked.

"Three... including you." Stiles answered, obviously referring to Malia and Lydia. 

"And when was the last time you were tested?" 

"For STDs?" Stiles asked, his eyes widening. "Like right before we started dating. Have you gotten tested?" 

"Of course." She said.

"And.....?" 

"I'm good... I'm totally good. You?" 

"I'm clean." Stiles answered. 

"Okay then, I was thinking, if we're only having sex with each other and that won't be changing any time soon, I thought we could stop using condoms.." Cat suggested. 

"Because you want a baby?" Stiles pulled the sheet slowly towards his chest. 

"NO. You idiot, do I seem ready to have a baby to you? I can't even keep the basil alive on your windowsill." She gestured towards the living room. "I didn't tell you but I'm on this birth control... it's basically this, like, hook inside of me that makes me hostile towards any.. invaders." She glanced down to the part of the bed sheet hiding his penis. "It's supposed to be even more effective than condoms, and I just... I just want to be with you. No barriers, nothing in between." She said, as she ran her hand up his chest. 

"I feel like you should've started this conversation with 'Hey Stiles, we don't have to use condoms anymore because my womb won't take any of your shit.'" He talked with his hands the way he did when he was annoyed. 

She laughed out loud. "Sorry..." She sheepishly grinned, as she leaned up to kiss him on the lips. 

"So we don't have to use condoms anymore?" He asked. Cat shook her head. "Why didn't you start this conversation before we just had sex?" Stiles shook his head at her, and pulled her back on top of him. 

"I don't know actually..." She laughed, as he pulled her close for a kiss. "Stiles..." She took a deep breath. "As much as I want to do this again right now, and as happy as I am that you can do this again so soon after, I have to go." 

"No, come on, you can do your laundry here... after." Stiles tugged at her hands. "We never get to have sex when Scott's not here with his super-wolfy hearing." He complained. 

Cat rolled her eyes and smiled. "I have to do laundry and I told Sarah and Hanna that I would have lunch with them. I have to go." She kissed him hard. "I'll see you later, handsome." 

"I'll be here... burning my boxes of condoms." Stiles yelled after her. 

> * * *

Stiles stood in the living room, staring at the dry erase board, chewing on the lid of the marker when he heard his phone vibrate. 

"Hey babe, do you want me to order in Vietnamese or something tonight?" He said when he saw Cat's picture light up his lock screen.

"STILES... SHE'S GONE!" Cat was sobbing into the phone.

"Cat.... Cat, what's going on, are you okay?"  Stiles dropped the marker onto the floor. 

"She's gone. She's gone! Hanna's been taken." 

"Baby, slow down." Stiles told her as he frantically looked around the room for his keys and his shoes.

"Sarah and I got to the restaurant for lunch and Hanna never showed up. When we got home, the front door was open and the place was trashed. They took her. They took Hanna. There was blood on the floor. Stiles, they took Hanna." She was screaming into the speaker. 

"Have you called the police yet?" Stiles asked, as he tied his vans up with her on speakerphone.

"No, no, not yet."

"Okay, I'm calling Isaac and I'm coming over, take Sarah into your room and lock the door. We'll be right there. Don't let her call the cops yet." 

Stiles pulled the Jeep up to the front of the building and threw it in park. He grabbed the bat he kept in his backseat and ran to the front door. He saw Isaac sprinting towards the front of Cat's building, his claws already protruding from his fingers. Stiles fumbled with his keys to find the lobby key that Cat had made him a copy of for emergencies. He opened the door and raced with Isaac up the stairs to her floor. 

Stiles held the bat against his shoulder as he and Isaac approached the front door of Cat's apartment. Stiles pushed the door open further with the end of his bat. 

"CAT..." Stiles yelled, surveying the living room for his girlfriend.

She burst out of her bedroom at the sound of his voice and ran into his arms. He hugged her tighter than he had ever hugged her before. "They came back, and I fought them off." She sobbed. "There was just one, but it was them." She sank onto the floor in front of him. 

"Stiles, we have to call the cops." Isaac said, as he walked out of Hanna's room, blood smeared on his shoe, as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

Stiles' eyes widened over his bloody footprint. "Yea, call them and watch her." He helped Cat onto the couch, and peeked his head into her room to look for Sarah. "Sarah... are you okay?" Stiles helped her up from her crouching position behind Cat's bed. 

"What are all of you... what is going on?" Sarah asked, shaking as Stiles helped her onto the couch next to Cat. 

He crouched down in front of her, getting eye level to make her feel more comfortable. "Isaac is calling the cops right now, Sarah, and I promise we'll find Hanna, and I promise that we'll explain everything to you, but you can't tell the police about the guy coming back or how Cat fought him off. Please." Stiles pleaded with the scared girl. 

Sarah looked at Cat and took her hand. "I promise." Cat hugged her and the two girls sobbed on each other's shoulders. 

Stiles walked over to where Isaac was standing in the corner, looking at the blood smears on the floor in Hanna's room. "We have to call Scott.. It's time for him to come back." Stiles exclaimed. 

 


	18. The Roommate, Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The vampires have forced the Pack's hand when they break into Cat's apartment and abduct her roommate, Hanna.

Scott walked in the door to see Cat, Sarah, and Stiles sitting on the couch, Isaac standing behind them, and Parrish shaking the hands of the police officers who began filing out the front door. 

"If you hear anything from her or the attackers, please contact us immediately." The lead detective said to the group.

"They will, Detective. I'll walk you out." Parrish said to the man as he began walking out the door. 

"Hey, Scott." Parrish paused in the doorway and nodded his head the direction of their friends. 

Stiles and Isaac saw Scott first and walked up to him. Stiles closed the front door behind him, then hugged his best friend. He left it unlocked to let Parrish back in again. 

"How's Allison?" Isaac asked. 

"She's okay. Mr. Argent and I have been catching her up on everything that's been happening, monitoring her, so far, she seems okay." Scott updated them. He peered over Stiles' shoulder at the girls on the couch, holding hands but not speaking. "How are they?" Scott asked.

"Shaken up, upset.... Cat got a little bruised, but that crack in the wall is from the other guy, so I'd say they're doing okay." Stiles whispered, ruffling his hair like he did when he was anxious. "Scott, Sarah saw everything... We have to fill her in on what's going on. I promised her that we would in exchange for her not telling the police what really happened." 

Parrish walked back through the door and joined their conversation. "The detective thought that they would take it better coming from me, but he wanted me to tell them that they can't stay here tonight. This place is a crime scene and they could both still be in danger." 

"We're all still in danger." Isaac chimed in. 

The four men approached the two girls in the living room. Stiles sat back down next to Cat, Isaac and Parrish sat in the chairs next to the couch, and Scott sat on the coffee table in front of them.  

"I called Simon and he will be back tomorrow morning. He said you can stay over at his place then, but you can stay at ours tonight, Sarah." Stiles mentioned, leaning over to see the emotional girl's face. Sarah nodded. Stiles intertwined his fingers with Cat's and rubbed the back of her hand. 

"Sarah, my name is Scott... Do you remember me? We met at Simon's party. I've been here a few times." Scott asked softly. She nodded. "I promise that we are going to find out where Hanna is and we're going to bring her back safely."

"What happened?" Sarah asked, her voice shaking and cracking.  

"Sarah, I've found when having this conversation that it's better to not sugarcoat it, or else people just end up confused..." Stiles began.

"I'm a witch." Cat blurted out, tears welling up in her eyes. "I've wanted to tell you for a while now, but... I'm sorry. This whole thing is my fault."

"You're a witch.." Sarah repeated. "I don't understand." Her face was blank as she stared at Cat and Stiles. 

"At the beginning of the semester, the night that Cat never came home, Scott and I found her in Magnolia Park fighting these two guys.... protecting this couple." Stiles began explaining. 

"The night of the first attack.. You were all there?" Sarah clarified. 

"Yes. We saw Cat fighting off these two guys, and when they overpowered her, Scott stepped in and they ran off.... Sarah, those two guys were vampires, and that's who took Hanna." Stiles continued. 

"That's who came back before Stiles and Isaac got here, who I fought. That man, he was a vampire." Cat interrupted. 

"You flung him across the room without even touching him." Sarah said, a statement like a question. 

"It's part of my power."

"As a witch." 

"Yes." Cat confirmed. 

Sarah had stopped crying at this point. She gripped a used, wet tissue in her hand. "How did you fight them off, are you a witch?" She turned to Scott, who was sitting right in front of her. 

"No, Isaac and I..." Scott gestured behind him to where Isaac was sitting. "... we're werewolves."

She turned her attention to Stiles. "What are you then?" 

"A human, like you." Stiles responded. 

She looked at Parrish, and missed Stiles shaking his head at him. "What are you?" She asked. 

"A.. deputy, and a friend. We're all here to protect you, Sarah. No one is going to hurt you." Parrish reassured, in his usual, calm and kind voice.

"So vampires have been behind all of the attacks and deaths on campus this year?" She asked, trying to make sense of it all. 

"Yes, and they've gone after Hanna because they couldn't get to Cat or Scott. They're the only two of our group that they've seen because of the fight in Magnolia Park. We've been trying to stop them, and I think this is their way of telling us to back off." Stiles explained. "We essentially moved Cat into Scott and mine's apartment to keep the vampires away from you and Hanna, in case they were following any of us."

"I'm so sorry, Lamb, I never meant for you two to get dragged into this. I'm so sorry." Cat began sobbing again. Sarah leaned over to comfort her. 

"This is all insane..... but I know how much you love us. I just wish you had trusted us enough to have told us sooner." Sarah told her roommate. "You're one of my best friends, I wouldn't have judged."

"Guys, we have to get them out of here." Parrish reminded, standing up and resting his hands on his belt buckle. 

* * *

 "She's asleep." Scott told Stiles and Malia of Sarah, as he closed the door to his bedroom. "I think she had cried so much that she was just exhausted. 

"Same with Cat. I had to sit in there with her for a little, but she fell asleep eventually. Thanks for letting Sarah take your bed, Scott." Stiles said. 

Scott nodded and the three of them sat down in the living room. "Parrish is outside of the building?" Scott clarified.

"Yea, he's just going to watch the street entrance tonight." Malia answered. 

"Scott, we have to get Hanna back alive, and we have to take care of the vampires once and for all." Stiles said, a serious tone in his voice. 

"I know, I know. I shouldn't have let it get this far. We need to find one of them and bring them back here. Find out where they're keeping Hanna." 

"We need to kill them all." Malia expressed her feelings about the situation. 

"Malia, we don't kill." Scott reminded her. 

"Scott, that's bullshit. These guys are dangerous, and they have literal bloodlust. They won't stop. If Derek or Peter or Ethan or even Allison were here, they would all agree that we need to kill them." Stiles argued. 

"But what if there is another way?" Scott countered.

"There aren't enough rooms in all of Eichen House to lock up all of the vampires we've seen the past few months." Stiles continued, getting more and more frustrated with his best friends optimism.

"We don't kill guys, I talked to Gerard more before he died and he told me all about the pact that he had made with the vampires when he got them to leave Beacon Hills for good. I want to try to make a pact with these guys."

"Do you mean, you talked to Gerard before you got him killed, Scott?" Stiles asked, meaning to hurt his friend. "You can't have it both ways."

"Stiles.." Scott warned.

"No, no, Scott, you can't just kill someone, brutally I might add, when it suits your needs, like bringing your girlfriend back to life, but when someone in our pack, my girlfriend is being threatened, along with everyone else in Berkeley, you just want to sit back and talk about it! That's bullshit, Scott and you know it!" Stiles was yelling at this point. 

"Guys... Guys..." Malia pointed to Stiles' bedroom door, where Cat was standing, watching the screaming match take place. 

"Cat..." Scott began, as she walked into the living room. "I'm sorry." 

"It's been you two making the decisions for so long that you haven't even bothered to ask everyone else what they thought about what's going on." Cat chastised the two friends. "I'm not sure what the right answer is but I know it's not black and white and I know we can't afford to rule anything out, and you two need to just get over that." She sat down in a chair in the living room. 

There was silence in the room for a few short moments before the front door burst open. Parrish and Ethan dragged a defiant and struggling young vampire through the front door, and Isaac carried Cora in his arms through the door behind them. Everyone rose to their feet and Cat saw Sarah peek her head out from behind Scott's bedroom door. 

"Malia, lock the door." Scott pointed to the front door. 

Stiles grabbed Cat by the wrist and ran into his bedroom with her. "My full-moon chains for Scott are in that white bag under my bed, grab them." Stiles directed, as he began dragging a heavy, metal chair from behind his desk, into the living room. 

Isaac layed Cora down on the table and stood over her, holding her hand, as she coughed up red blood and writhed in pain. Stiles rolled the TV stand away from the wall, in the living room, revealing large metal clasps that he hooked to the legs of his desk chair, anchoring it to the floor. Parrish looked at him, alarmed.

"What? I'm just ready in case Scott flips out on a full moon." Stiles explained the set up. "Let's get him restrained." He gestured to the vampire.

"She's not healing, Scott. She's dying." Isaac sounded frantic. 

Scott walked over to the other side of his table and held down her arm and shoulder. "Isaac, hold her down, you know how this goes. Um... Sarah.. Sarah, I'm sorry but we need an extra hand. Grab a dishtowel and shove it in her mouth, she needs something to bite down on." Sarah walked through the pandemonium and grabbed a towel from the kitchen. She twisted it and pushed it in between Cora's fangs. "Malia..." Scott nodded to Cora's leg.

"I'm sorry, Corrs." Malia whispered up to her friend, right before she snapped Cora's ankle apart. 

Cora screamed in agony, muffled by the towel that Sarah had placed in her mouth. She then passed out from the pain, but the shallow scratches on her arms began to heal. Ethan and Stiles finished restraining the vampire up to the chair, and the chaos settled. 

"What the hell happened?" Scott demanded to know. 

"We found Hanna." Isaac mumbled from across the room.


	19. The Dead Week

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> LONG CHAPTER. 
> 
> Scott, Stiles and Cat meet with the Queen of the vampires, Ilyse, to arrange an exchange to get Hanna, Cat's roommate back. Ilyse threatens the Pack and tells them that they must be the ones to leave Berkeley. Zachary, the first victim of the attacks turned vampire, helps the Pack and connects them with a descendant of the famous vampire hunter, Van Helsing. The Pack then sets out, with the descendant of Van Helsing, to save Hanna before it's too late.

 

> _"Zachary... You're name is Zachary, right?" Cat squatted in front of him. "I'm not gonna hurt you... Do you remember me?" Cat pulled her hair out of her face and back onto her shoulders. "I helped you and your girlfriend, Mary, that night in Magnolia Park. Do you remember?" The young vampire nodded his head. Cat smiled a smile that lit up the room. "Great, great... Zachary, I'm sorry that I couldn't help you more, that I couldn't keep this from happening to you, but I'm hoping that you'll help me now. Will you help me?"_
> 
> _"Yes." Zachary, the first victim of the vampire attacks, from the night when Cat met Scott and Stiles, said quietly, convinced by Cat's sincerity._
> 
> _"Your friends took my roommate. Her name is Hanna, she has three sisters and parents and grandparents who all love her very much. Sarah and I, we love her very much. She's our best friend, and your friends took her from us." Cat pointed to Sarah, standing next to Parrish behind the couch. "If you tell us what they've done with her, we might be able to help you get back to your old life. Does that sound fair?"_
> 
> _"Yes." Zachary whispered._
> 
> _"Why were you following our friends tonight?" Scott asked gently._
> 
> _"She told me to."_
> 
> _"Who's 'she'?" Scott asked._
> 
> _"The Queen."_

* * *

"I feel like this is a horrible idea." Stiles commented, as they stood in the middle of Magnolia Park waiting for the vampires to show. "I know you are basically the undead now, but I will totally kill you if you get us killed." Stiles glared at Zachary, their vampire hostage, who had arranged the meet-up.

"Here they come." Zachary pointed off in the distance to the group approaching them. 

"Scott McCall, I've heard so much about you and your pack... and the witch, a descendant of the first American witches. What a treat."

"You know us, but we don't know you." Scott said, in his sweet, low tone, as he surveyed the group of vampires. A tall, slender, and pale but beautiful woman stood in front, addressing them, as two younger and built male vampires flanked her on either side. He didn't see Hanna.

"My name is Ilyse." She said, her voice melodic and her accent mildly foreign.

"You didn't bring Hanna." Cat spoke up.

"I didn't think it was a fair trade, young witch. Beautiful, youthful, vital Hanna is precious to you... she's valuable to you. Zachary... well, unfortunately, Zachary, you are expendable." Ilyse smiled with an eerie calmness.

"If you weren't going to trade, then why did you even come here?" Stiles demanded to know. 

"Ah, the human friend, you should know something about being expendable..." Ilyse tilted her head to survey Stiles' fidgeting. "We came here with a warning, for you Alpha. You came into our territory, you and your mangy dogs, and your half-pint witch." Her entire demeanor changed, the cordial tone was gone. "We've been migrating up and down the West Coast since before the Europeans built fur posts here. We take what we need and the community looks the other way, but you all... you are the ones that blew this out of proportion and threatened my children. You are the ones who need to leave." Her voice became less melodic, and more demonic and guttural.

"I'm not going anywhere without Hanna." Cat snapped back.

"Unfortunately, if you don't leave, Hanna will never be returned safe and sound into the arms of her mother and what a shame that would be." She returned to her previous demeanor. She smiled. "Leave now, or more will die. I promise you that." Ilyse threatened, as she turned her back on the group and walked back into the night. 

"She left me..." Zachary piped up. "I can't believe she left me.... That bitch... vampires don't survive on their own." Zachary began to panic, pulling at the chains around his arms.

"Then help us, Zachary, please." Cat took his hands in hers and squeezed them. "And maybe we can help you." 

"You need to find someone." Zachary was quick to flip on his betrayers. 

"Who?" Stiles asked.

"The descendant of the Van Helsing line... She holds the key to killing vampires." Zachary divulged. 

"Where is she?" Cat asked, her eyes widening. 

"She goes to Berkeley... That's why we've been spending more time here than we usually would, we've been trying to track her down and get the weapon." Zachary explained, admitting the true purpose of the vampires extended stay.

"Do you know her name?" Scott asked. 

Zachary nodded. "Mina Van Steenis."

"We need to break into the registrars office." Stiles said, a mischievous look spreading across his face. 

* * *

"She's in the Criminal Justice major with me..." Stiles said, as he pulled her file from the cabinet in the Registrars office. "Aaaaaaand she's in your American Government class, Cat." He said, turning to his girlfriend and handing her the file. 

"I guess you guys are going to class with me tomorrow morning." Cat said, shaking her head, as she looked at the picture on file, and recognized the pretty brunette girl from her lecture class. 

* * *

Cat walked through the door and looked for the girl in the sea of people. She saw her, a seat open next to her, and approached. 

"Can I sit?" Cat asked, pointing to the desk next to Mina's.

"Yea, sure.."

"Can you move, I need to sit here... just scoot down a couple of, yea, thanks. Oh get over it, it's just a seat." Stiles said to the guy sitting on the opposite side of Mina. Cat watched as Scott sat in the chair in front of her. 

"Is your name Mina? Mina Van Steenis?" Cat asked.

"Uh, yea, do I know you guys?" She asked, trepidatiously. 

"No, but we need your help." Stiles chimed in, leaning over the desk in front of him. 

"I'm sorry, it's Dead Week.. finals are next week, and if you're all just coming to this class now, I don't think I can help you." Mina answered.

"We don't need help with the class." Cat replied, lightly levitating Mina's notebook off of her desk.

Mina's eyes narrowed in on Scott. "Why don't we take this outside?" She suggested. 

The group filed out of the large classroom, through the backdoor and out into the parking lot behind the building. Mina dropped her backpack to the ground, and reached in her pocket, revealing a short, curved dagger in her hand. She took an offensive position, causing Scott to reveal his claws. 

"You're werewolves and witches, I knew it." Mina said. "Come at me!" She yelled.

Stiles shrugged and looked at his friends. "We're good..." He said as he raised his hands up.

"What?" Mina asked, confused. 

"We didn't come here to hurt you.. I am actually in that class with you." Cat pointed back to the building. "But that's not why we came to talk to you. We need your help."

"Someone told us that you are the direct descendant of the Van Helsings, and I don't know if you noticed, but Berkeley has a vampire problem." Stiles quipped. 

"Can you come to the coffeeshop with us and just talk to us please?" Scott asked gently. 

* * *

 Cora locked the door of the coffee shop behind Derek. The whole group was there. Lydia had come up from Stanford, and Parrish, Derek, Liam, Mason and Hayden had come in from Beacon Hills. The only people missing were Chris and Allison Argent and Kira. They all sat and listened to Mina tell her story.

"My family has been waging this war against the vampires since vampires came into existence. All of these stupid fucking movies and tv shows nowadays glorify the species, but we remember.. They're animals." She snarled at Zachary, sitting quietly in the corner of the room with his head down, trying not to draw her attention to him. 

"She's a little crazy.. I like her." Ethan whispered to Isaac, who nodded.

"Mina, Ilyse took our roommate, and we don't know how to get her back." Cat had her arm hooked with Sarah's. They had been leaning on each other extra in the past few days. 

"If they didn't bring her to your meeting, that means that they probably already gave her The Bite, and there are only two ways to save her now: if she's been bitten and has already killed, she's a vampire now, which means she's gone." Stiles looked at Cat and Scott; his theory about how the vampires were being turned was correct. Mina continued. "If she's been bitten, but hasn't killed, she can still be saved, but only by killing the one who bit her."

"Thaddeus." Zachary said quietly from the back. "Thaddeus bit her and I, but as of the last time I saw her, she hadn't killed anyone yet. He was one of the ones that you fought in Magnolia Park the night they attacked Mary and I."

"So we have to kill Thaddeus.." Sarah chimed in, getting into the swing of her crazy new life.

"No, no, we don't kill." Scott corrected, getting frustrated with his pack's own bloodlust. 

"You have no choice, Alpha. These vampires are not here to negotiate. They came to kill me, and now they'll probably kill all of you just on principle." Mina retorted. 

"So how do you kill a vampire?" Derek asked, leaning forward as he sat next to Cora and Stiles on a couch. 

"My family created five bowie knives. They were made by witches in France." She gestured to Cat. 

"Original coven witches." Cat answered. 

Mina nodded. "They were each imbued with a drop of virgin blood, and the saliva of a werewolf. The metal was forged by hand by a Hellhound named Daniel." She looked up at Parrish. She hadn't been told much about the group, but she was experienced and trained well enough that she could tell by sight who was what. "They were then immediately cooled by the breath of a Banshee. It took years to make them correctly, but as some of my ancestors fell, the bowie knives were destroyed with them."

"How many are left?" Stiles asked.

"Three, and I have all of them." She told them. "You stab them in the heart and then rip off their heads for good measure. Bram Stoker's  _Dracula_ wasn't a fictional novel, it was a public service announcement." She said. "You need to storm their compound, find Hanna, and try not to get killed. If you help me kill a few vampires in between, great."

* * *

 

The large hoard, plus Mina, stared at the large mansion South of campus, that Isaac, Cora, and Ethan identified as being where they saw Hanna, from a distance. Scott turned to address his pack. 

"Stiles, you stay with Cat, and Lydia, you stay with Parrish. I don't want to kill these things, but I also don't want any of us getting hurt like Cora did the other night. Defend yourselves. Stay in your groups, and stay on the walkie talkies. I have a bowie knife, Zachary, Cat, Stiles, Liam and Hayden, you're with me. Mina has a bowie knife, Ethan, Cora, and Isaac, you're with her.... and Derek has the last one, Parrish, Lydia and Malia are with him. We're here to find Hanna, abduct Thaddeus, and get out. We'll see you after." Scott nodded at his group, and watched as they separated, surrounding the house. "We're taking the front entrance, so we're going to take the brunt of it. Cat have you been practicing your forcefield?" Scott asked. 

"Yea, I think if Stiles is with me, I can maintain it, at least for a bit." She answered, gripping Stiles' hand in hers. 

Scott broke the lock on the front door and stepped back, allowing Cat and Stiles to take the lead. Cat emitted a large force field around her, that bounced the first vampire off of it with ease. Zachary stayed in between Liam and Hayden, who each had their claws up against his spine. They weren't sure if they could trust him, but they needed him to direct them through the house. Scott saw Derek and Mina's groups break through the back and side doors and begin fighting the vampires. Mina was cutting through the vampires with her knife like they were made of butter.

"Scott, there's nothing we can do! We have to go." Stiles yelled, waiting for his friend at the bottom of the stairs. Scott followed reluctantly. 

"It's the top floor, keep going.." Zachary directed. 

Liam took down a few vampires and Stiles smacked one across the face with his bat, but the bowie knife and Cat's force field deterred most from fighting. 

"I'm losing it." Cat said, the glow of her force field flickering. 

"Then save it for when we have Hanna." Stiles  assured her. 

"Scott, we got Thaddeus." Derek said over the walkie talkie. "Do you need back up?"

"No, no, get out of here." Scott replied. 

"She's behind this door." Zachary directed the group. 

Scott opened the door to the room where they were holding Hanna and was bombarded with blood thirsty vampires. Hayden, Liam and Scott went to work clawing and punching at them, making their way through the room. Cat threw a hoard of them across the room with her telekinesis, only to reveal that they were protecting an older vampire woman, with her incredibly long claws against Hanna's throat. Cat tried to lift her off, but she dug her nails in deeper. 

"Scott... You have to." Stiles said as he and Liam held the door closed behind them, preventing more vampires from coming in and providing support for the old woman. Cat hovered over Hayden, who was bleeding from her stomach. Zachary was defending the Pack from the group of vampires that Cat had put down. Scott looked at Cat and nodded. 

"I'm putting it down, just please, we can talk about this. Let her go." Scott reasoned with the old woman. 

"You foolish mutt." She uttered in a guttural tone. She threw Hanna to the side and charged at Scott. Cat used her powers to pick the bowie knife from the ground and into the old woman's chest. Scott drove it in further, then dropped to the ground with her lifeless body in his arms. She turned to dust in his hands. 

"Stiles, help me get her up." Cat said as she rushed to Hanna's side, taking off her sweater and wrapping it as a bandage around Hanna's neck.

"We've got Hanna, we're coming out." Stiles spoke into the walkie, breaking the silence. 

Cat and Stiles carried Hanna out and down the stairs, with Zachary in front, fighting off those who confronted them, having proven himself to the group earlier. Liam helped a wounded Hayden down behind Cat and Hanna and Stiles. Scott covered their flank, fighting off any residual vampires willing to take them on. They finally made it outside to where Derek's group was holding Thaddeus. 

"Where are Mina and Isaac and Cora and Ethan?" Scott asked, looking around and taking inventory of his friends. He then heard static crackle over the walkie. 

"SCOTT! MINA WENT ROGUE. SHE TOOK THE QUEEN." Isaac yelled through the radio.


	20. The Moving Out and Getting Older

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles, Scott, Isaac and Simon help Cat, Sarah and Hanna move out of their apartment for the summer. Cat recaps everything that had happened since the Pack saved Hanna from the vampires.

> _"What'd you do?" Scott yelled at Mina._
> 
> _"SHE KILLED MY BROTHER, SHE DESERVES TO DIE!" Mina screamed back._
> 
> _"We don't kill, Mina." Scott tried to make her remember._
> 
> _"You may not, but I'm not part of your pack." Mina said, as she plunged the bowie knife into the Queen's heart. She turned back to Scott, blood splattered across her face. "Ask Zachary how many people her and Thaddeus have killed. ASK HIM! They deserve it, Scott! They deserve it." Mina had become rabid._
> 
> _Scott turned to Zachary, who frowned. "Thousands." He answered Scott's unspoken question. "Hanna doesn't deserve to turn into this." He added, gesturing to himself._
> 
> _"You're right, bloodsucker, she doesn't." Mina ran over to Thaddeus, who was being restrained by Derek and Parrish and slit his throat, then stabbed him in the heart with the bowie knife, in one fell swoop. She was now drenched in blood. "If you were really a true Alpha, Scott, you would understand that not all supernatural creatures are worth saving."_

* * *

"So they all just left?" Sarah asked, as she loaded her microwave into the storage box. 

"Pretty much. They scattered after they saw Mina slaughter the Queen and Thaddeus in the middle of the street in front of the mansion." Cat told her roommate, catching her up on what had happened that fateful night. "I don't blame them. It was insane and gory." Cat stared at the jar of olives in her hand, looking for the expiration date, as she sat in front of her open fridge, and then chucked it in the garbage. 

"Where did Mina go?" Sarah asked.

"I'm pretty sure that she took her finals and went home actually." Cat shrugged. "Honestly, I don't want to kill, and watching her do it is definitely going to give me nightmares for the rest of time, but it ended it all and it saved Hanna so... I don't know. There was nothing we could do about her." Cat shook her head and went back to cleaning the food out of their fridge.

"I can't believe that Hanna's taking her finals right now." Sarah commented. "After everything that happened."

Cat laughed and smiled up at Sarah, who was pulling items out of the drawers in their kitchen. "I expect nothing less of her."

"It was nice what she did for Zachary too."

"Seriously.. I know he killed Mary, and that's horrible, but he was just as much a victim as Hanna and the rest of them." Cat commented.

* * *

>   _"So you're telling me that they abducted you and killed Mary?" The detective clarified, sitting across from the table Zachary in the interrogation room. "And you think that Hanna will corroborate your story?"_
> 
> _"Yes, sir. Because it's true. I loved Mary, we were going to move down to Cupertino together, I wouldn't have ever hurt her." Zachary said._
> 
> _"Alright, stay here, I'll be right back." The detective walked into the hall to talk to the officer taking Hanna's statement. "What'd she say?"_
> 
> _"She said that the two guys that he described followed her home from campus, broke into her apartment and kidnapped her. She has restraint marks and bruises all over her body that corroborate that." The officer explained._
> 
> _"And what'd she say about Pillit?"_
> 
> _"She said that she overheard them talking about trying to abduct both Zachary Pillit and Mary Henley, but Mary got wounded, and so they killed her and took Zachary, and yesterday, the kidnappers just left, so Zachary and Hanna escaped from the mansion finally. Honestly, sir, it sounds like they got lucky."_
> 
> _"Alright, take it to the D.A.'s office. I guess we'll be dropping the charges against Zachary." The detective directed the uniformed officer._

* * *

"So what now?" Sarah asked. 

"Now it's over, we all managed to pass our classes, no one died, the vampires have left Berkeley for good, and I'm pretty sure that Stiles is going to spend the summer forcing Scott, Parrish and Lydia to create a bowie knife for the Pack." Cat smiled and shook her head.

"Damn right, I am, and we're going to add all this crap to the Bestiary too." Stiles poked his head into the door of the kitchen, catching the last bits of their conversation. "Scott and Isaac are back, what can they take to the storage unit next?" Stiles asked the girls.

"Um, if the TV's are all packed, those can go, and everything in the pantry and storage closet should be packed up and ready." Cat directed her sweaty boyfriend. 

"Simon should have some boxes in my room packed too, and anything that's taped up on the dining room table." Sarah added on. 

"Got it." Stiles said as he left the girls alone again. 

Sarah looked at Cat and saw her smiling. "When are you going to see him again?" She asked. 

Cat sighed. She didn't even want to think about her summer apart from Stiles. "The subletters are out of their apartment on August 15th, and Scott and Stiles are back in on August 16th, so Stiles will fly out on the 1st and we'll spend a few days in New York and then start driving back here after. We move back in a few days later so, yea, it should be fine though." Cat explained. 

"Hey, did you guys put the cups away yet?" Stiles asked as he opened the door to the kitchen again, wiping sweat off of his forehead. 

"Yes, but we have plastic cups just for you." Cat said, pointing to the red Solo cups sitting in a bag on the counter. 

Stiles walked over to the sink and filled his cup up with cold water and chugged it down.

"So the one thing I'm curious about it what happens to Zachary after all of this?" Sarah asked. 

"Oh, well, the university readmitted him and issued an apology letter on the website, and so he'll be back here next Fall with us to finally get his degree. But in the meantime, he's coming to Beacon Hills with us and we're going to try to train him to only drink animal blood.. reintegrate him as a functional, non-murdering member of society." Stiles answered her question. "But he's proven himself to be loyal, and he's a cool guy, and he said he can fix my iPhone screen for free so he's part of the Pack now."

"He is definitely going to keep your hands full this summer." Cat laughed to herself. 

"So what are _you_ doing this summer, Stiles?" Sarah asked. 

"Well, making a bowie knife, for one, and saving a young vampire, aaaand I'm also interning for the Sheriff's Department in Beacon Hills." He explained. 

"Oh cool!" 

"Not really, I'm basically on lunch runs and answering phones all day about kittens stuck in trees or some other non-emergent bullshit. But if it goes well, Scott's dad said that he would get me an internship with the San Francisco FBI field office next summer, so whatever."

"And you're with a senator this summer, Cat?" 

"Congresswoman, but yea." Cat answered. 

"You're heading back home to Seattle for the summer, right? What are you doing?" Stiles asked Sarah.

"Nothing really, trying not to get murdered or abducted by Big Foot probably." She joked. 

"Now Big Foot is a supernatural creature that I could get behind." Stiles commented with a smile. 

"You nervous something will pop up in Beacon Hills this summer while you're home?" Sarah asked. 

"I mean, they're still having a wendigo problem, so hopefully we can stop that and that'll be all. I'm sure it'll go by so quickly that we won't have enough time to have a supernatural disaster." Stiles glanced over at Cat, who was looking up at him from the floor, a look of genuine sadness on her face. 

"What about the thing that that witch told you, Cat?" Sarah asked. 

Cat tapped her knuckles against the counter a few times and pursed her lips. "I don't know." She sighed. I'm taking all of my books from this semester with me and if something happens, I'll figure it out." She looked up at Stiles. 

"Yea..." He mumbled, staring at Cat.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, the title is a play on John Mayer's new song Moving On and Getting Over, and no I have no shame.


	21. The Sleepless Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat and Stiles have sex and talk the night before she returns to New York for the summer.

Cat and Stiles laid on her bed, her extra pair of sheets that she was planning on packing in her suitcase covering them. Stiles ran his fingers through her hair and tried to make a mental note of what her long, silky brown strands felt like on his fingertips. He glanced down when she shifted her body, adjusting her head more onto his chest, her arm and leg wrapping around his body. The weight of her body hugging him always quelled his anxiety, but it wasn't working as well tonight.

"I hate seeing your walls so bare. I miss your maps of Centre Island and Jones Beach and the New York City subway. I miss your dream catcher and Star Wars calendar. I even miss your Yankee's hats." Stiles sighed. "It feels too final."

"I know.. I don't like it either, I mean, who will I go to the movies with this summer? Like, what? Am I gonna see Spider-Man alone?" She asked, trying to make light of the situation.

"Oh shit, I didn't even think about that... Scott never goes to movies with me." Stiles complained.

Cat reached her hand underneath his shirt and dug her hand into his side, wanting to hold him tighter. She laid small kisses on his chest. She shut her eyes and tried to remember his scent, a mix of his fabric softener, his shampoo and his general musk. She tried to memorize the moles on his chest and stomach, and how they felt against her fingertips.

"Cat..." Stiles interrupted the comfortable silence.

"Mhmm." She said sleepily and sing-songy.

"I love you." She felt his heart beating in double time, and she smiled.

"I love you." She replied, her eyes still closed, and her head still resting on his chest.

"You do?" He playfully pushed her onto her back and climbed on top of her, straddling her stomach. He intertwined his fingers with hers, and grinned, his dimples prominent.

"So much." She grinned back at him.

"I've been wanting to tell you that for like a month, but the time literally never seemed right. I didn't want you to think I was saying it just because we were about to die.. on numerous occasions." Stiles admitted, as he pushed down on her wrists, and she pushed back at him.

"Yea, you could've said it a month ago.. I wouldn't have minded." She closed her eyes and shook her head, a grin still plastered on her face to let him know she was teasing him.

"Oh yea?"

"Definitely." She smiled a big, toothy grin.

"You know what else I've been wanting to do for, well, more than a month but you know..." Stiles asked playfully.

"Hmm?"

"Have sex without a condom."

"Mmm." Cat nodded her head slightly to the side and smiled.

Stiles bent forward and began kissing her on the lips, still holding both of her hands above her head. She began breathing heavily. His touch, his scent, his voice and his words made her tremble. He kissed her neck gently and sighed. He then flopped back onto the bed, laying on his side, and pulled her up against him.

He kissed her on the mouth, their tongues swirling around one another. He reached down and ran his hand up her leg, grabbing a fistful of her ass and bringing her closer to him. They laid there kissing and grabbing at each other, mostly clothed, for a while; the tension building between them.

Cat finally pushed him on his back, getting on top of Stiles to straddle him. She ran her fingers along his pronounced jawline, and smiled. She was so grateful to be falling for such a smart, handsome, funny and sexy man. She leaned in and began kissing along his jawline, ending with small nibbles at his ear.

"Oh wow." He moaned out the words.

She giggled quietly in his ear and moved down to kissing his neck. She ran her hands the length of his torso, and began to pull at the bottom of his shirt. He pulled at the neck and ripped the shirt off over his head, throwing it on the floor. She sat up, on top of him, and pulled her own shirt off, throwing it on top of Stiles' on the floor. She smiled at him as she kissed her way down his stomach, pinning his hands above his head, a reversal that she enjoyed very much.

She pulled at the elastic waistline of his boxers and shorts, and left long, wet kisses on his hip bones. His breathing became heavy. He watched as she started back from just below his belly button and left long wet kisses down his happy trail. She glanced up at him breathing heavily, a serious look on his face. He bit at his lower lip slightly, as a grin spread across her mouth.

He watched her lick her lips, tuck her hair behind her ear, and sit up on her knees in between his legs. She looked up at him, frozen with his left arm over his stomach and his right arm bent over his head. She tugged at the elastic around his waist and he helped her pull his clothes off. Her heart began to beat fast.

She had never done this before and was going off of instinct. She took a deep breath and licked her lips again. He looked like he was holding his breath. She looked down and smiled. He was even bigger from this angle. He was a solid seven inches hard, and thick.

She took his half erect cock in her hand and bent over to place her lips against it. Stiles was gripping the sheet under him, his knuckles turning white. She started by flicking the slit in the very tip of his penis with the tip of her tongue, while she held his shaft in place. He exhaled loudly the moment her mouth touched his dick. She then decided to take the tip of her tongue again and trace right underneath his head, swirling her tongue in a circle around it. He moaned sharply.

She was enjoying herself and let out a quiet moan as she continued teasing the tip. She decided to test the waters further. She wet her lips once more and decided to wrap them around the tip. She tightened her grip and he jolted forward slightly.

"Oh god." He whispered, his eyes now closed, trying to only focus on the feeling of her mouth around his cock.

She inhaled through her nose and took him deep into her mouth. He was so big that she choked a little. He liked the noise of her gagging. He brought his hand to the back of her head and intertwined his fingers in her hair. She locked her eyes with his. She watched him breathe heavily and moan as she bobbed up and down, mouth wrapped around his shaft, her hand working in tandem on the lower part of his big, thick cock that wouldn't fit down her throat. He was wriggling underneath her.She choked and gagged, but she went faster because the moaning was intoxicating. She loved pleasing him.

Stiles was getting frustrated because it felt so good to be in her mouth, and he knew that if she continued for a few minutes more, that he would probably come. But he so desperately wanted to know what it felt like to cum inside of her. He also wanted to feel the connection he felt with her when they made love. He decided he wanted her to stop.

He put his hand down against her cheek, getting her attention. He gently pulled her face up to his and kissed her on the lips. Then stared in her big green eyes. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and smiled. His other hand made its way to her hip. He felt the lace fabric of her underwear against his thumb.

"Was that okay?" She whispered, staring down at him.

"So good." Stiles whispered back, as he began flipping her over onto her back, and pulling her panties off of her.

Stiles hovered over her body, the white sheets crinkling beneath her. He reached down and ran his fingertips from her breasts to pussy. He checked to see if she was wet. He watched her chest move up and down as she breathed heavily. He took his dick in his hand and guided it inside of her. She gasped for air at the sensation of him first entering her.

He began thrusting in and out of her, his hands tangled in her hair. He was kissing at her passionately in between moans. Their mouths occasionally open, ready for a kiss, but too entwined in the moment to actually complete the act. Simply breathing each other in.

She placed her hand on his left shoulder and pushed him onto his back. She straddled his waist, flicked her hair over her shoulder and gripped his penis. She rested herself onto him. This was the loudest she had ever heard him moan.

"Jesus christ." Stiles breathed out.

She smiled and began riding him. He watched her as her tits bounced up and down with her in front of his face. He loved seeing her throw her head back and grip the sheets around him. Occasionally she would lean forward to kiss him and he would kiss her neck and breasts, causing her to moan even louder. She slowed down. Lowering herself on him and pushing down hard. She rotated her hips with him inside of her, causing her to shake and moan louder than he had ever heard her moan before. He was so deep inside of her. He intertwined his fingers with hers, and she pressed her palms against his, steadying herself on his hands, as she made figure eights with her hips.

"I want it." She whispered, biting her lower lip.

She picked up her pace and began riding him in such a away that he was almost slipping out of her, but she would slam back down on to him just in time. She watched as his eyes rolled back. She knew what that meant. She tightened her pelvic muscles and sped up. He thrust hard into her and stayed there.

She trembled as she felt his dick begin to throb and the warm cum begin to fill her pussy. She writhed with pleasure. She collapsed on top of him, as he wrapped his arms around her. He was careful to keep inside of her. He didn't want this night to end. He didn't want to return to reality and leave this place where he felt safe and satisfied with her.

"What if I pulled the spark plugs out of your car and you just had to stay?" He said, as he brushed her hair over her back.

She laughed out loud onto his bare chest. "Have you already done that?" She asked, sitting upright to look at him.

"Totally." He teased, a smile spreading across his face. He brushed the hair off of her shoulder. "That was incredible... so much better without."

She smiled and nodded. She rolled off of him and laid at his side. "What if I pulled the spark plugs out of my own car?" She sighed. "I can't tell you how much I don't want to go." She admitted.

Stiles sat in silence for a few minutes. He kept tapping his fingers against the bed sheet, watching the indents that his fingers made in the foam mattress below.

"Stiles, are you falling asleep?" She whispered, not enjoying the silence.

"No.." He turned his head to face her. "I'm not sure I'll be able to sleep at all without you in the bed with me. It's giving me such bad anxiety just thinking about it." He admitted.

"You'll have your pillow.." She tried to make him feel better.

"But I won't have you."

"You have me tonight.." She reached down and grabbed the sheets from by their feet and pulled it up over them.

She cuddled up against his chest and shut her eyes. Neither of them slept a wink, in preparation for what they knew was going to be a sleepless summer.


	22. The Roadtrip, Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Almost a month has passed by since school finished and everyone went home for the summer. Stiles, Scott, and the rest of the gang helped take care of the wendigo problem that Derek, Liam, Hayden, Mr. Argent and Sheriff Stilinski and Deputy Parrish combined couldn't get under control in Beacon Hills. Scott had been spending most of his time with Allison, helping her get her GED so that she could join them at school in the Fall. Stiles, bored and agitated, had been spending his days interning at the Sheriff's Department, while Cat was spending her days on the other side of the country interning for her local congresswoman. 
> 
> All seemed quiet, until something began brewing in Beacon Hills.

> _"You know, young witch, the only reason why we helped you initially is because Gerard was the sacrifice. He came after my family many, many years ago, and we have been waiting to get our revenge ever since." Cat walked beside the tall but eerie coven witch who had just brought Allison Argent back to life, in silence. Sylvie Ducette continued speaking regardless of a response. "But what I'm going to tell you next, I tell you because I like you... there is a darkness in you.. for a New England witch. I think that you are more powerful than you know, and I have a feeling that we will be seeing each other again in the future."_
> 
> _"Is this about my powers?" Cat asked._
> 
> _"Non, vous devez regarder vos etudes." Sylvie said, as they paused at the entrance to the crypt where the ritual had just taken place._
> 
> _"Look to my studies?" Cat questioned._
> 
> _"Look to your studies, Catherine Aurora, they hold the answers that you will seek..... for something is coming your way."_
> 
> _"What do you mean? The vampires?" Cat asked, the confusion apparent in her voice._
> 
> _"Mon cheri, non. You know how to take care of them already." Sylvie calmly replied._
> 
> _"Then what's coming?" Cat whispered._
> 
> _Sylvie smiled. She was done with being helpful. She felt like she had given the girl enough. "A bientot."_

* * *

 It was 2am, and Cat was up in her loft bedroom half-watching Riverdale and half-reading about the healthcare bill that the Republican backed Congress was trying to push through the Senate. She was trying to focus on what she was reading, as she wanted to impress her boss, the Democratic Congresswoman from Cat's district in Queens, with her knowledge of the latest news on Monday. But all she could really focus on was why Stiles hadn't been answering his phone all day. 

She saw her phone light up, a picture of the Pack posing all huddled together and smiling, with her standing next to Stiles, was blocked by a text message. " _Can you let me in?_ "

"What?" She said quietly to herself. She propped herself up in bed and peeked between her curtains, just in time to see a taxi pulling away from her house. 

She ran down the stairs that led straight to the front door, and opened it. On the other side of the screen door was Stiles, wearing a hoodie and carrying a duffel bag, a backpack and his pillow. "Hi." He said quietly. She opened the screen door and threw her arms around his neck, pulling herself up to his face to kiss him.  

"Come in, come in... What are you doing here?" She asked as she pulled his pillow off the ground and walked back inside.

He watched as she quietly closed and locked the front door behind him. He dropped his bag to the ground, which made a loud thud against the hardwood floors, only drowned out by the sounds coming through the open windows of the waves crashing on the sand in front of her house. He pushed her up against the door and began kissing her. He pressed his body up against hers, bending at the knees, to kiss at her neck. She ran her fingers in his hair and softly moaned. His hands quickly roamed her body, grabbing at her frantically, as he pressed his lips against hers, sliding his tongue in her mouth and letting it explore hers. They were interrupted by the sound of a jangling collar and the pitter-patter of claws against wood. 

"So this is Laney?" Stiles asked, wiping his mouth, as the medium sized black dog bared her teeth at the intruder. 

"Yea... maybe we should go to my room... Laney, go back to bed." She shooed the dog off and began climbing the stairs back up to her room.

"Stiles, what's going on, why are you here?" She asked as she shut her bedroom door behind her.

Stiles set his bags down on the floor and sat on the edge of her bed. "I came to get you." 

"What do you mean? What's going on?" Cat asked, as she sat down next to him, one leg tucked under the other.

"So much. Ugh.." Stiles sighed, and laid back on the bed. He then turned onto his side, his legs still hanging off the bed, and moved his head next to her leg. He wrapped his hands around her thigh and rested his forehead against her. 

"Stiles, you're freaking me out now. What's wrong?" Cat asked, as she began rubbing his back and holding his hand. 

"For one, I basically became an insomniac after you left. I sleep probably three to four hours a night, every night, if that. So I came to get a good night sleep." Stiles began explaining his sudden appearance. 

"Stiles..." She said, upset at how he was taking care of himself.

"I also haven't seen much of Scott.. none of us have. He's always at the Argent's with Allison, which is fine and I get it, but the Pack is all off doing their own thing and not paying attention because something is happening in Beacon Hills."

"What do you mean 'something is happening'?" She asked, concerned. 

"I think the something in the 'for something is coming your way' that Sylvie told you about, that we've been waiting for... I think it's come to Beacon Hills." Stiles said, as he sat up right in order to look at Cat.

"Why do you think that?" 

Stiles rubbed his face, he was tired, and a full day of travel wasn't helping him fight his fatigue. He sighed. "So about two weeks ago, this old lady came home from dinner with her grandkids, and it was dark, and someone found her body the next day on her doorstep. Two more have been found like that since, and we didn't know what it was that killed her and Scott has been so non-existent, so we were leaving it to the Sheriff's Department. Then five nights ago, a fourth person was attacked, but didn't die. They were able to describe what attacked them, and they said it was like this creature that manifested from the shadows and had these grim reaper-like hands and nails and fangs...." 

"Well that kind of sounds like a vampire, no?" Cat asked.

"That's what Derek and I thought, so we started patrolling at night again, but my dad responded to a b and e that some neighbor had called in, and when he got there, he got attacked." Stiles' eyes looked redder than they had moments before. He wiped a tear away that had escaped his eye. 

"What?" She whispered. "Stiles, is he okay? Why didn't you call me?" She took his face in her hands and teared up at the sight of him so distraught. 

"Yea, yea, he's fine. I wouldn't have left unless he wasn't." Stiles reached up and pulled her hands off of his face. He cupped them in his hands and kissed her balled up fingers. He placed them in his lap, as he kicked off his shoes and sat cross-legged across from her. "He got cut up pretty badly, and he was in the hospital for a few days, but he's home now. He said that he shot off a few bullets into the attacker's torso, and they all ended up in the wall."

"But your dad is a great shot..." Cat commented, confused. 

"I know, and he was up against the guy. He said that they just went right through, like he was aiming for the wall and there was nothing in between. He said that it just disappeared after that."

"That's not a vampire." Cat corrected her earlier guess. She paused, thinking back on all of the new developments. "Why didn't you tell me what was happening? I talk to you on the phone every night."

Stiles looked down at her hands in his. He had such a serious look on his face. "I thought that I could handle it at first. Everyone had stuff going on this summer and I just didn't want to burden anyone. Scott has all of this stuff with Allison, Cora and Isaac have been having some trouble, you were practicing your magic.. I thought that I could handle it." Stiles had regret in his voice. 

"I will literally never be too busy to help you, and when something happens like your dad getting attacked and going to the hospital, you need to tell me." 

Stiles nodded. "I'm sorry... I haven't been thinking straight."

Cat stood up, and grabbed Stiles' shoes from the floor. She brought them over to his suitcase and backpack, and picked his pillow off of the floor. She brought it over to her bed and placed it next to Stiles. She leaned over and unzipped his hoodie and helped him take it off. He stood and began to undress, leaving his clothes in a ball on the floor at the foot of her bed, standing in front of her in only his boxers. She walked up to him, only wearing a long baseball tee of his that he had given her for the summer and her underwear. 

"It'll take me a day to get all my stuff packed back up and to say bye to my mom and quit my internship, but we can leave the day after." She said, as she pressed her hands against his bare chest. 

"I'm sorry you have to drop everything... I'm just sorry."

"It's okay." She reached her hand up to cup his cheek. She stared into his big brown eyes, sad and bloodshot. "Let's go to sleep."

Stiles nodded and climbed onto the bed. He replaced one of her pillows with his, and watched her shut off all of the lights and lock the door. She climbed into bed and laid on her stomach. She gripped her pillow underneath her head, with both of her arms underneath it. She rested her right foot against her left knee and shut her eyes. Stiles let out a sigh of relief. He placed his head next to hers on her pillow, his left arm reaching under it to find her hand, his right arm draping over her body. He placed himself in the same pose to sleep in, just up against her body. He was exhausted. 

"You came to get me." Cat whispered. 

"The Pack and I needed you... I really needed you." Stiles whispered back. 

"You literally flew across the country to get me." She reiterated. 

"I came to get you." Stiles repeated, kissing the back of her head.

Her left hand found his left hand under the pillow they shared, and she squeezed it. "I love you, Stiles."

"I love you." He groggily whispered, as he finally fell asleep.

* * *

"Okay, well that's that... She took the sudden sickness of my grandmother very well." Cat said sarcastically, hanging up the phone with the Congresswoman who she had just lied to in order to quit but not burn a bridge. 

"I'm sorry you had to quit the Congresswoman's office, I know that was a big deal. But I'm pretty sure my dad got you a replacement internship with the mayor of Beacon Hills so, I know it's not the same but it should be...informative?" Stiles bit his thumbnail. He was feeling guilty for dragging Cat away from her summer plans. 

"All I was doing was getting her coffee and stuffing envelopes, I'm sure that the mayor's office will be just fine." She smiled, trying to reassure him, while sitting on her bed folding her clothes to place back in her suitcase.

"And my dad said that you could stay in the guest room..." 

"No." She said, watching the surprise take over his face. 

"What do you mean 'no'?" Stiles asked. 

"I don't want to mooch off your dad even more than the internship. I know Malia and Lydia used to sleep over all the time, and he was fine with it, but I don't know, he doesn't know me the same way that he knew them. I just want him to get to know me for me, before he thinks I'm just always up in your room or something. I don't know. Just no. Can I stay at Scott's? He has an extra room, right?"

"Not since Allison came back. Isaac moved back in with Scott, you could move in with Lydia."

Cat cocked her head to the side and pursed her lips, staring at Stiles like she couldn't believe he had just suggested that. "I could just rent a room from Derek in his building, I mean, that's where Cora and Ethan live, right?"

"I'm not going to pull you away from here, just to bring you to Beacon Hills and make you pay for a place to stay." Cat shrugged; she could afford it. "What about Allison's? You could stay in Isaac's old room. I know you don't really know her but you've spent some time with her Dad and they kind of owe you big time..." Stiles reminded her. 

Cat continued folding while thinking about it. "Okay, if they'd do it, otherwise, you're calling Derek and asking him for a place for me." Stiles stepped out of the room to call Chris Argent.

He came back in a few minutes later. "Okay, you're at the Argent's... which is going to be very difficult to sneak into to sleep with you..."

Cat smiled and shook her head. "We'll work it out."

* * *

They were somewhere in eastern Ohio when Stiles ditched Cat's American Government textbook and notebook into the backseat of her car. She turned down the stereo and looked at her boyfriend.

"Do you finally agree that whatever is terrorizing Beacon Hills is probably not in the Constitution?" She asked, sarcastically. 

"Yes, we're moving on to your Western Civ. books." Stiles said as he dug out her notebook from her backpack that was set down by his feet.

"Isn't Scott supposed to be looking through the Western Civ. stuff?" Cat asked. 

"He's been going through the textbook, but if you think that Scott took more thorough notes than you, you're crazy." Stiles replied, as he watched Cat fidget in her seat. "Do you need to switch?" 

"Yea, I think so and we need gas." She said, as she pulled off onto an exit ramp. "We need to get to Chicago tonight so that we can be at the Oriental Museum when it opens, so that we can then get back on the road by the afternoon."

"What do you think we'll find at the Oriental Museum?" Stiles asked, as he leaned against the car and watched Cat pump gas. 

"Answers, I hope." 


	23. The Roadtrip, Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat and Stiles are driving across the country to get back to Beacon Hills to help with whatever has been killing it's population. They stop in Illinois to go to the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago to see if it could lead anymore clues about what might be terrorizing Beacon Hills.

"What's this?" Stiles pointed to a small clay tablet covered in Cuneiform writing. "It says 'Surpu, Middle Babylonian Period'. What's a Surpu?"

"I don't know but take a picture of it, we might need it later." Cat roamed around the room full of ancient Mesopotamian artifacts. She kept being drawn towards a large statue of a human and animal hybrid. 

Stiles walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. She leaned back against him, and he reached around to kiss her cheek. "You know, it's okay if you're enjoying yourself and you want to take a couple extra hours to just look at everything." Stiles whispered in her ear. 

"I know, and I am. I love this stuff. I signed up for History of Ancient Egypt with Dr. Simon in the fall because I enjoyed his Mesopotamian class so much. But you know we have to get back on the road soon." She whispered back at him. 

"I know.. I just wish this road trip could be a bit more fun, more like the one that we had planned for August." Stiles lamented, a half frown broke across his face. Cat nodded, and turned around to hug him. He held her for few moments, and then the footsteps of another museum goer brought them back into reality. Cat broke off, bashfully smiled at being caught in a moment and began walking away. "So what is this thing? A sphinx?" Stiles said, his voice echoing through the room, causing Cat's head to turn. 

Cat turned back around and stood next to him. "No, the sphinx is more of an Egyptian and Greek thing. This is a lamassu. They usually had the head of a human, and then some sort of combination body of animal parts, usually something with wings."

"What'd they do?" Stiles asked. 

"They were demons in Assyrian culture, but good demons. They usually came in pairs because they would stand guard in entrances, and defend households and palaces from bad demons. People with means in ancient Babylon and Assyria would either paint them on their walls or they would make these massive carvings into their structure. There's a matching set of them at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan, and I used to love them as a little girl. I thought they were so cool looking. So when I got older and learned what they actually did... I love them even more now." Cat smiled, thinking fondly of her childhood memories. "I'm going to try to find the bathroom and then we should go. I'll meet you by the front desk?" She asked.

Stiles nodded and watched her walk off. 

* * *

"Do you have my keys?" Cat asked, checking her purse, as she saw Stiles sitting and waiting in the lobby. Stiles dangled her keys in his hand, a new addition resting on them. "What's this?" She smiled.

"I thought we could use some good demon protection. I found them in the gift shop." Stiles showed her the matching lamassu keychains on both of their key rings.

She leaned up to kiss him. "I love it. Thank you." 

"Anytime, babe. Hey, do you think you can hold my keys or put them in your purse? I hate driving with them in my pocket." Stiles asked. Cat nodded and shoved them into her sweater pocket.

Stiles wrapped his arm around Cat's shoulders and they walked back to the car. 

"Do you think we found anything that helped?" Stiles asked.

"I don't know. It could be something like the Beast of Gévaudan, and that would be found in our Western Civ. books, or it could be something like a... daevas, and that would be in the Mesopotamia stuff."

"What's a daevas?" Stiles asked as he got into the drivers seat of Cat's car.

"It's like a catch-all for 'demon' in the Zoroastrian religion. Anything malevolent that kills and sets you astray from goodness." 

"Do you have more about that in your notes?"

"Of course." Cat said, looking out the window as they passed by the downtown section of Chicago.

Stiles stared at her for a moment. "Ummmm, can you check what your books say?" Stiles asked.

"No... I get car sick when I read in a moving vehicle." Cat said, shrugging and smiling. 

"Great... just seven hours until we switch then." Stiles said, speeding up. Cat laughed.

Cat and Stiles stopped for BBQ in Nebraska and kept driving until they hit Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, where they had reserved a campground for the night. They pitched Cat's tent in the darkness and went to sleep. They woke up the next morning before the sun came up and got back on the road. A sixteen hour push to make it back to Beacon Hills before the end of another day. 

Around 10pm, Stiles pulled into the driveway of his house. The motorcycles and cars of the Pack members were sitting outside, parked on the street. The light was on in the window of his living room, as was the light outside of his front door. Cat and Stiles walked into his house and saw everyone gathered around waiting for them. Stiles grabbed her hand, and looked around. He was happy to be home, and happy that the Pack was back together.

"Welcome home." Lydia said genuinely, offering peace.

"So what's the plan?" Scott asked the two of them. 

 

 


	24. The First Time This Summer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat and Stiles have sex for the first time since leaving school for the summer.
> 
> Just a good, smut-filled chapter.

"I wanna have sex." Stiles whined, laying on his checkered blue comforter, his shoes still on, and his eyes closed.

"You said like five minutes ago that you couldn't wait to sleep." Cat countered, chuckling to herself.

"I want both."

"Hmm.... I'm not sure how that would work." Cat said as she walked out Stiles' bedroom door and into the hall.

Everyone had left for the night and gone home. Scott and the rest of the group had brought Chinese food over for Cat and Stiles as a welcome present, and caught them up about what had happened in Beacon Hills while they were on the road. Four more people had died and two were in the hospital in critical condition. They would go to the hospital in the morning to try to find out what the living victims remembered from their attacks. The Sheriff had been pulling night shifts, patrolling the streets, to try to stop any further attacks. Cat would move into Allison's tomorrow, but for tonight, her and Stiles were just interested in sleep. 

Cat stepped into the shower and turned on the hot water. The dirt, and sweat and grime that came with camping and driving across the country got swept away into the drain. Cat was standing under the running water, allowing her hair to soak, when she heard the curtain move against the shower rod. 

Stiles' arms wrapped around her waist, kissing her shoulders as the water fell on the back of his head. She moaned as she placed her hands on top of his, and turned so the water was falling on his back. He pulled her in tightly against him. He began kissing her neck and shoulders, and caressing her breasts. He reached a hand around her stomach and lowered two fingers into her pussy. She let out a quiet moan, and melted into him. She raised her arms to lock around the back of his neck and grabbed a fistful of hair as he continued rubbing her clit. She could feel his thick cock hardening against her back.

"I thought you were falling asleep." She said, quietly as he continued rubbing her clit. 

"No, I'm good." 

Cat turned around to face Stiles. She wrapped her arms around his neck and began kissing him. He pushed her up against the tiled wall of his shower, and kissed her long and slow. The water rushed over the both of them, as Cat reached down and grabbed a hold of cock. She began to stroke it gently, feeling it get larger in her hand. Stiles grabbed her hand and put it back around his neck, he then wrapped his hands around her waist and ass and picked her up off the floor. 

He stepped out of the shower, holding her up against him. He opened the door and walked out into the hall, opening the door to his bedroom. 

"Stiles, I'm going to soak your bed.." She said, staring up at him, as he laid her on her back.

Stiles ran out of his bedroom. She heard the faucets turn and the water stop running, and then she saw Stiles walk into the room with towels. He locked the door behind him and ran a towel through his wet hair. She watched as his muscles tensed in his arms and abdomen. She admired the chest hair between his pecs and his happy trail and the trimmed it met around his cock. He pulled her up and handed her the other towel. He then placed his on the bed.

She wrapped her towel around her body, her hair still dripping water onto the floor, and reached up to kiss him again. He'd been with her for days but they hadn't had a chance to have sex again since the night before she moved back to New York. 

She dragged her hand down his chest and stomach as she kissed him, feeling the outline of his abs against her fingers. She then wrapped her arm around his back, feeling the muscles that developed. She broke from the kiss and looked at him. 

"Have you been working out?" She asked skeptically.

"Liam and I have been playing a lot of lacrosse. Why?" 

She looked him up and down and sighed. "I think you have somehow gotten sexier.."

She wrapped her fingers back around his dick, wanting to get it hard again. He hadn't been touched in so long. He shut his eyes and focused on the feeling of her hand tugging at his cock. Even after some time out of practice, she still knew what felt good.

"You don't even know yet." Stiles teased her.

Stiles pulled at the towel she had wrapped around herself, letting it fall to the ground. He placed his hand on the small of her back and guided her onto the bed. He knelt down in front of her, pulling her by the back of her knees forward, towards him. She shut her eyes, her body was still in anticipation of what he would do next.

He pushed the hair up off of his forehead, and wiped his wet hand on the towel. He kissed lightly against her thighs, and she moaned instantly. The tension was building inside of her. He put his hand on her pelvic bone, and pulled up towards her stomach. The lips of her pussy separated slightly on their own. He began to lightly flick his tongue back and forth across her clit. She squirmed. 

He dragged his tongue back and forth, closing his eyes to concentrate. He gripped the back of her thigh, and pulled her leg to drape over his shoulder. She ran her fingers through his hair, lightly tugging as he sucked lightly at her clit. 

"Oh god..." She whispered. 

He took his tongue, flat, and drug it against the length of her dripping cunt. She moaned. He did it again. Then he dug the tip of his tongue into her opening. She squirmed and breathed heavily. He brought the pointed tip up and she pulled a little harder at his hair. He swirled his tongue around her clit, in response to her moans. 

"Stiles, I want you." She said a little bit louder. 

Stiles looked up at her, her body was writhing with pleasure, and she had her fingers gripped around the bed sheets. He leaned down and grabbed the towel on the floor. He wiped his mouth and chin with it and then he gripped the back of her thigh, near the bend of her knee, and pushed her leg up against her chest.

He stood up between her, his cock hard. She was gripping the knee of the leg that he had pushed up against her. He leaned over her face for a moment, holding her cheek in his hand, staring into her eyes, and kissing her on the lips. 

"I want you too." Stiles whispered, his lips grazing her ear. She shivered.

He kept her thigh pinned up against her chest, and tapped her pussy with the head of his cock. She watched him, intensely, as he slowly pushed just the tip into her tight, wet cunt. He pulled out, and again, gently and slowly pushed the head of his penis into her vagina. She sucked in air quickly as he pushed himself in farther. He kept his face close to hers, kissing her lips and breathing in her moans and making sure she was alright. He went with slow, but forcefully ending thrusts, until he began to feel her tremble.

"Fuck." He moaned out. 

He stood upright, and wrapped her other leg around his waist. He licked his thumb and placed it against her clit. He began rubbing her clit and thrusting in and out of her. She moaned loudly, pulling hard at the bedsheets around her. He picked up the speed of his thumb, licking it a few times in between to keep it wet.

"Oh my god... I'm close." She managed to say.

Stiles grinned. He began thrusting harder, faster and deeper, his thumb keeping time. She was biting her lip hard. He felt the walls of her already tight pussy, begin to tighten further. Her eyes were shut and the moaning had stopped. Her knuckles were white as she gripped the sheets under her. He felt his cock begin to throb.

He thrust a few more times and rubbed a bit longer when suddenly, a knot loosened in his dick and he felt the cum being released into her raw, hot, beaten up pussy. She felt the hot load shooting out of him, and suddenly a wave of euphoria came over her body. She began to spasm, as he leaned into her. She grabbed his hand off of her clit, and let the orgasm roll through her. He pushed as hard as he could against her pussy and began trembling; his knees almost giving out beneath the weight of the orgasm. She threw her head back and yelped with pleasure. It had been so long since she felt his warm cum fill her up. He pushed into her cunt until every last drop was out. 

They both stayed in their respective positions, breathing heavily. He held her legs as they twitched, still feeling the effects of an amazing fuck. He was sweaty and exhausted now. He placed her legs back onto the bed, her feet just grazing the floor, and he knelt down in front of her. He was grateful that the towel was under her, as his cum began to drip out of her pussy. He watched as the white, viscous substance dripped down her red,raw lips. He felt his cock twitch and he grabbed it. He couldn't do that again any time soon.

"Where the hell did that come from?" She finally managed to say, still lying on her back, staring at the ceiling. 

Stiles ran the backs of his fingers against her shin, leaning his head against his mattress. "I had a month to think about how to get you to orgasm more." He said with a sigh. 

"Oh... well, I don't think I can walk, so keep it up." She replied, laughing slightly. 

"Now I actually think I need a shower." Stiles said, getting on his feet. He walked over to the closet and grabbed two new towels from the shelf. He looked over at her, her arms were draped over her eyes and her stomach. "Come on, you can sit in the tub and I'll wash your hair." 

He saw a smile spread over her face. It made him grin. "I can stand and wash my own hair." She sat up and watched her legs still trembling. "Actually, I can sit in the tub and wash my own hair.." 

He helped her up and walked behind her, his hands on her hips, as they went back into the bathroom.


	25. The New Roommate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat moves into the Argent's hotel apartment and bonds with her new roommate.

 

> _"Where's Scott?" Melissa asked, staring at only Cat, Stiles, and Isaac in front of her at the nurses station at Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital._
> 
> _"He's at the Argent's." Isaac answered, a tinge of annoyance in his voice._
> 
> _"Of course he is." Melissa replied, echoing Isaac's sentiment. "So the male victim, he died only a few hours ago, but the girl is still hanging on. She was shredded though, I don't know if you all want to see this." Melissa paused in front of the elevator doors, waiting for them to open to take them up to the last victim of the late night attacks in Beacon Hills._
> 
> _"I mean, is she awake?" Stiles asked. "Can she talk?"_
> 
> _"For the most part." Melissa answered._
> 
> _"Then we want to talk to her." Stiles replied, entering the elevator._
> 
> _"What's doing all of this, Mrs. McCall?" Cat asked, garnering stares from everyone in the small elevator._
> 
> _"....It's Melissa, Cat." Melissa McCall corrected the newest pack member. Cat nodded, her cheeks flushing a subtle pink. "And I don't know what's doing it. The wounds have been varying: some have been bitten, some have been just slashed apart, some have limbs that have been torn straight off." Melissa explained, as they walked down the hall and stopped in front of a patient room._
> 
> _"How do we know that they're all victims of the same attacker then?" Isaac asked._
> 
> _"We don't, not definitively, but the few who have survived have all described the same... figure." Stiles clarified, as they stepped into the room to see a girl with her eyes shut, and large, deep gashes across her face._
> 
> _There was gauze on her forearms, legs, and stomach. Isaac winced as he took her hand and siphoned her pain. Melissa injected a stimulant to wake the girl up, into her IV, and she began to rouse._

* * *

"Thanks, Scott." Cat said as Scott placed her biggest suitcase on her new bed in the Argent's guest room. 

"Hey, Scotty, you wanna get Allison in here and we can fill you in on what the girl at the hospital said earlier?" Stiles asked, glancing up from trying to shove Cat's guitar case under her bed.

Scott closed the door, causing Cat and Stiles to look up from their unpacking. "Uhhh..." Scott paused, struggling how to start the conversation. "I need a favor from you guys." 

"What's up?" Stiles replied.

"I need you to not tell Allison what's going on with the attacks." 

"She doesn't know?" Cat asked, the surprise in her voice evident. 

"Mr. Argent wants to try to keep Allison out of this. She doesn't know about the vampires or the attacks that are happening now, and we just want to keep her safe this time." Scott looked concerned. 

"Why does she think that Cat has moved in with her then?" Stiles asked.

"She thinks that Cat needed a place to stay for her internship with Mayor Chandler." Scott explained. "Just please don't say anything to her." 

"I won't." Cat promised. Stiles nodded in agreement. 

Scott opened the door to see Allison standing on the other side, with her fist raised to knock, and Cat's last suitcase in her other hand. "....I just wanted to see if you guys needed help." Allison said, with soft smile. 

"Yea, totally." Scott said, grabbing the bag from Allison's hand, and kissing her on the cheek. 

After unpacking and making small talk for a while, Allison looked at Stiles, moping around the room. "You know, Stiles, the windows aren't electrified anymore and the fire escape leads up to the windows in here... also, I'm pretty sure the front door works perfectly well."

"What about your dad?" Stiles asked. 

"I guess you're all old enough to make your own decisions, but subtlety is always appreciated." Mr. Argent answered, standing in the doorway, checking on the group. 

"Duly noted, Mr. Argent..." Stiles winked and shot a small finger gun at him. 

"Scott, Stiles, why don't you guys head home and let the girls settle in tonight?" Mr. Argent stepped out of the way into the hall. Scott and Stiles kissed their respective girlfriends and left. "You need anything?" Mr. Argent asked the girls.

"No, thank you though, I really appreciate all of this." Cat answered. 

"Anytime. Goodnight, girls." Mr. Argent said, as he walked towards his bedroom. 

Allison closed the door to Cat's new bedroom, and sat in the chair next to the dresser. "You know I know everything that's going on, right?" Allison said, a smile breaking through her pursed lips. 

"Um... what do you mean?"

"My dad and Scott, they think that they are sneaky and subtle but I listen to their conversations. I know about Isaac and Cora." Allison admitted, her legs crossed at her ankles. 

"Oh... oh, yea, um, yea, that is going on..." Cat replied, trying to hide her relief that that was all that Allison knew. 

"What'd you think I was talking about?... the vampires in Berkeley or whatever it is that's haunting Beacon Hills right now?" Allison asked casually, staring at Cat folding her clothes to put away, waiting for her reaction. 

Cat's head shot up to look at Allison. "Umm...... I.... I didn't know that they were keeping it from you until today."

"It's okay, I get why they're doing it. I died. I literally died, and if it weren't for you, from what Scott told me, I'd still be dead. I get that they don't want me in harm's way again, but I also really don't like sitting around this apartment all of the time. I didn't come back from the dead just to get my GED."

Cat chuckled lightly to herself, and looked back up at Allison. "Scott is gonna be so pissed that you know."

"And that he and my dad were basically the ones that told me anyway." Allison laughed. "Can you fill me in on what's going on? Like the whole story."

"Well, oh god, okay, the whole the with the vampires was crazy. Basically, Scott and Stiles saw me fighting them, and not doing great.. or whatever, and saved me... and that's how we all met, and then they kept attacking and killing people, and Stiles figured out that they were killing the people that they couldn't turn. Then they abducted my roommate, Hanna; they were trying to leverage her to get us do leave Berkeley and let them continue terrorizing the city. Then we found the descendant of Van Helsing, and she was.... kind of crazy, actually... but it all worked out." Cat explained, as Allison sat in silence across from her. 

"...........you met... Van Helsing was real? The guy that killed Dracula?" 

Cat laughed. "I know, i know.. it sounds ludicrous but her name is Mina and she is definitely descended from vampire hunters." Cat shook her head as she talked about Mina, remembering all of the craziness that surrounded her as a person. 

"So what's happening in Beacon Hills right now? Is it the vampires?" Allison asked. 

Cat climbed off of the tall queen sized bed, and sat on the floor, leaning against the foot of the bed. Allison folded her legs underneath herself and leaned her cheek against her delicate hand, listening intently to Cat. "....I don't think so. I really don't. It doesn't feel the same as it did in Berkeley. About nine people have been killed, and only four people have survived, one of which was the Sheriff."

"WAIT, Stiles' dad was attacked?!" Allison said, shock covering her face. "Is he okay?"

"Yea, yea, he's fine. He was in the hospital for a handful of days, and he's back to modified duty now."

"And that's why you came out here?" Allison asked.

"Not exactly. Stiles actually flew out to New York to get me. I didn't know that the Sheriff was in the hospital until almost a week later. He thinks.... when we were in New Orleans, as Scott and Stiles were putting you in the car, the witch that performed the ritual, she pulled me aside and she told me some ominous bullshit about a mystery threat heading my way, and if I looked to my studies, I could figure out how to stop it. So when the attacks started, Stiles came to get me."

"Do you know what they are yet?"

"No, not really.. we went to the hospital to see what the girl who survived the latest attack could tell us.. like what she saw, but the only reliable witness has been the Sheriff and he said it was just a large, thin, black cloaked dark individual with long, skinny clawed hands... and weirdly enough, that is not a ton to go on. But Stiles and I will figure it out... I hope." Cat laughed softly, trying to make light of their less than ideal situation. 

"You know, when Scott caught me up with everything that happened with all of our friends in the few years that I had been.. dead... I was most surprised to hear about you and Stiles... that he and Lydia had broken up." Allison began, noticing Cat turning a little white over the subject matter. "...But Scott speaks so highly of you. He really considers you a part of the pack, and he said that he thought you and Stiles were really good together, and I was watching you all earlier, and I get it.... Stiles is a guy with a lot of weight on his shoulders, and he brushes it off with his humor and deflections, but I don't think that happy is his default setting... but he spent all afternoon smiling at you.."

Cat tilted her head down and smiled, picking at some lint underneath her fingernail and trying to figure out what to say back. "I occasionally get worried about Lydia, she was his first love, and this supernatural thing is what tore them apart and... I don't know, I know she's your friend.." 

Allison cut Cat off. "Everybody has a first love, Cat, and sometimes they outgrow them. I think Stiles and Lydia outgrew each other, I don't think it was solely the thing that happened with Parrish. I think that it's very rare that you end up back with the first boy you loved, and I think that the only reason that I knew that I wanted Scott was because I was dying. Dying really puts things into perspective, and Stiles has almost been killed dozens of times, I'm sure he knows you're the right one."

Allison was interrupted by a clamor on the fire escape outside of Cat's window. "Can you open this?" Stiles asked, his voice muffled by the glass. Cat got up and opened the window, helping Stiles through. "What were you guys talking about?" 

"Oh you know, the usual..... like what if vampires really did exist?" Allison grinned and walked out of Cat's bedroom, closing the door behind her.

"Uhh..." Stiles fidgeted and widened his eyes towards Cat.

"Oh she knows..." Cat clarified.

"Scott is going to be so fucking pissed." 

"Yep.." Cat laughed. 


	26. The Coach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allison, Cat and Lydia hang out and Coach Bobby Finnstock is the newest victim.

Cat laid in bed, propped up on her elbow, lightly rubbing her hands along the subtle outline of her boyfriends abs. She dragged her hand up to his chest and stroked her fingers through his chest hair. She examined the small amount of stubble growing on Stiles' jawline and brought her fingers up to feel the prickly hairs against her skin. She stared at him the way that only a person in love stares at the object of their affection. She loved everything about him, from the dark hair on his arms, to the red tint of his lips, to the sound of him breathing deeply while he slept. She flopped onto her back on the bed, next to him, and sighed. 

"What's wrong?" He whispered groggily, wetting his lips with his tongue. 

"Nothing... go back to sleep." She whispered back. 

"Mmm no. What's wrong?" He turned over onto his side and slumped his arm over her stomach, his eyes still closed. 

"Nothing." 

"Caaaat. What. Is. Wrong." Stiles said, opening his eyes and climbing on top of her, and pinning her arms to the bed. 

Cat grinned and playfully struggled underneath him. "I was awake and you were still asleep and-"

"-and you wanted me to be awake?" Stiles asked. Cat's smile got bigger as she nodded. "Well you got what you wanted." Stiles leaned down and began kissing at Cat's neck, and pushing up the bottom of her shirt to play with her breasts. She ran her fingers through his messy bedhead. 

"Is it wrong to be this happy and this in love when all of this awful shit is happening around us?" Cat asked, her eyes shut, enjoying Stiles' kisses. 

"This in love?" Stiles repeated, smiling big.

Cat squeezed his hands tightly in hers, and bit her lip. "Mhmm..." She leaned up and kissed him on the lips. 

"I haven't brushed my teeth yet.." Stiles complained, pursing his lips.

"In love enough not to care.." Cat said, smiling and shaking her head. She went back to kiss him again. He ran his fingers through her hair, and she ran her hand across his ribs. She pushed her thin, long fingers under the waistband of his tight, black boxer briefs, sliding her hand to grab at his boney ass. He felt her smile through their kiss, and he lifted his head to smile back at her.

Stiles laughed briefly. "God, I am so in love with you. It's so dumb." He shook his head and leaned back in to press his lips against hers. She wrapped her legs around his waist, her arms around his neck, and enjoyed the kiss.

A rapid knock on the door interrupted their moment, startling them both and causing Stiles to roll off the bed. Cat adjusted Stiles' t-shirt back over her body and watched Stiles rub his elbow as the door opened. 

"Oh.. oh shit, I should've waited for you to tell me to come in." Allison said as she covered her mouth to hide her smirk, and turned around.

"Is she awake?" Lydia asked as she pushed Allison into Cat's bedroom. Stiles stood and covered his junk with his hands. "Oh, Stiles, you wear boxer briefs now... I tried forever to get you to wear them, why the change?" 

"Cat got me ones with the Mets logo on them...." Stiles said, as he scurried around to the other side of the bed to grab his pants off the floor. Lydia noted that those were not the ones that he was wearing.

"Uhh..." Cat covered her mouth, trying not to laugh and trying to hide how red her face was. "What's up, you guys?"

"Lydia came over and we wanted to know if you wanted to have breakfast with us?" Allison asked.

"Yea, sure... uh, just let me get dressed really quick.." She said, sitting up and tucking her sheet covered knees against her chest. 

"Okay, we'll let you get to that.." Allison said, stifling a giggle as she and Lydia walked out of the room. 

"That was horrible... nothing like your best friend's girlfriend and your ex seeing you with an erection." Cat laughed loudly. "I need my shirt.." Cat nodded and pulled the shirt off over her head, and tossed it to him. Stiles cocked his head to the side, staring at his now naked girlfriend. "Seriously? and I'm supposed to leave this?" Stiles said, as he narrowed his eyes and gestured towards her. He climbed back on to the bed and pressed his body against hers, their bare chests pressing against each other. He leaned in to kiss her gently, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "So in love...." He whispered in her cheek, smirking as he spoke, and leaning back in to kiss her cheek. 

Stiles' phone vibrated in his front pocket and he rolled off onto his back and reached into his pants to get his phone. Cat got up and walked to her closet, sifting through her clothes in nothing more than her underwear. "Who is it?" She asked, glancing over her shoulder at a silent Stiles.

"It's the group text with Scott and Isaac and Liam... Coach got attacked last night. They want me to pick up Liam and head to the hospital.." Stiles said, his tone more serious. 

Cat buttoned a shirt up and walked towards the bed. "Your old lacrosse coach from high school?" Cat clarified. 

"Yeah, Bobby Finnstock... I gotta go, babe."  

"Do you want us to come with you?" She asked as she picked her jeans up off of the floor. 

"No... no, it's okay. Have breakfast with Allison and Lydia, and I'll come back by later tonight." Stiles, wriggled off the bed, pulled his shirt over his head, walked over and kissed her on the lips. "I love you." He grabbed his shoes off the floor and his keys from her dresser.

"I love you too." She said as he walked out the door. 

* * *

 Stiles pulled the Jeep up to the visitor parking lot of Beacon Hills Memorial, and pulled his seat forward, letting Liam and Isaac out of the back. They found Melissa waiting for them and followed her up to Coach Finnstock's room. Coach was laying in his bed, pressing the button that controlled his morphine drip. 

"Coach..?" Scott said, as he inched the door open. "Coach, it's Scott, Stiles, Isaac and Liam..."

"I got attacked in my stomach, not my eyes, McCall. I can see it's you idiots." 

"Welp, he's fine." Stiles rolled his eyes and sat in the chair in the corner of the room. 

"How are you feeling, Coach?" Liam asked, approaching the bed. 

"Really sick of the supernatural shitshow that is this town." Coach complained. "Why won't this button work?" 

Isaac began laughing, as he looked at Stiles, who looked stunned. "Coach, you know?" Scott asked, completely caught off guard by the Coach's comment. 

"Of course I know, McCall. I swear, the only one in this town who probably doesn't know that some hocus pocus crap is constantly going on is Greenberg." Coach yelled at the boys. 

"Okay, well then, Coach, do you know what happened? Who attacked you?" Stiles asked, peeking around the other guys from his chair. 

"No... but I swear I am moving. You little brown nosers should never have taken me out of rehab." 

"At least you weren't shot in the stomach by an arrow again.." Isaac commented under his breath. 

"Oh yea, great, Lahey, getting mauled by some phantom was so much better than almost being killed by some crazy person with a bow and arrow booby trap." 

"Killed is maybe an exaggeration, Coach." Stiles said sarcastically. 

"So what happened, Coach?" Liam asked.

"I was staying late, grading these imbeciles economics papers." He gestured to Liam, who grimaced. "And I was just leaving the main entrance of the school. I turned to make sure that the door had locked behind me, it was dark and this  _thing_ jumped me. It started slashing at me and shrieking. I blacked out and that's when freaking Greenberg, god only knows what he was doing there, found me." Coach explained.

"You really didn't see anything?" Scott asked, repeating Stiles' question from before.

"It had long hands and big teeth... like fangs..." Coach explained. 

"Well that's the first we heard about the fangs." Liam looked at Scott and Stiles, who was now pacing the room, as Isaac took his seat.

"No it's not, Liam.. I swear, why do we even bring you to these things?" Stiles asked, dryly and frustratedly. 

"And he was wearing a long, black cloak, with a big hood... like the Grim Reaper..." Coach motioned around his head with his hands, continuing despite Stiles' outburst. "Now, McCall, if you can get your mother back in here and tell her to get this morphine drip dripping...." 

"We'll figure out who did this to you, Coach. Don't worry." Scott assured him. 

"Part of me wants to ask how it is that you are going to figure out who my attacker was, but the other part of me says that knowing will be more disturbing than anything I could ever imagine so I'm just going to pretend to sleep now." Coach shut his eyes. Stiles threw his hands up in the air, frustrated by their former lacrosse coach's casual attitude. Coach opened one eye and saw that they were all still in the room. "Leave... leave now." He said, closing both his eyes again. "I'm asleep, get out of my room."

"Feel better, Coach." Scott patted him on the arm.

"See you later, Coach." Liam said, as they filed out of the room.

The boys crowded around Stiles outside of the patient room door. "We should call the girls and have them meet us at my house. We'll call my dad and see what he has from the crime scene at the school."

"Let's go." Scott said, patting Stiles on the back. 

* * *

 

Cat and Lydia sat at the dining room table in silence watching Allison make french toast for them for brunch. 

"Are you sure you don't need help?" Cat asked, wanting to not be at the table alone with Lydia any longer. 

"Yea, I'm fine. It'll be ready in a few minutes." Allison smiled. 

Cat smacked her lips together and tapped her long fingernails on the table. "Sooo... have you always lived in Beacon Hills?" Cat asked Lydia.

"My whole life. You always lived in New York?" Cat nodded. "Cool..... So you and Stiles are doing well?" Lydia asked, breaking the silence between them.

"Uh.. Yea, we're doing great, despite everything else that's going on." Cat went back to tapping her fingers on the table. "How are you and Jordan?" 

"Great, great... So, Allison, are you and Scott officially back together or are we looking at a weird love.. square.. with you and Scott and Isaac and Cora?" 

Allison rolled her eyes and smiled. "No 'love square' happening. Isaac and I are friends, and I'm certain that Cora doesn't like me too much, but yea, Scott and I are officially back on." Allison smiled as she moved the french toast around in the frying pan. "He's much older and more mature and kinder... more focused... sexier." Allison's cheeks flushed pink, as she brought the plate of french toast to the table and watched as the girls dug in. "I've gotta ask though, Scott and I haven't talked about it, for obvious reasons, but what happened to Kira? I know they broke up but that's all I really know."

"Kira was having trouble with her power. The kitsune was controlling her, making her more violent and aggressive and so she went away to get it all under control. By the time she came back, graduation had happened and we were like a month and a half from leaving for college, and Scott tried really hard, and she let him, but he never had a chance. Apparently they took her to San Francisco and she finished school there and her dad got a teaching position at San Francisco State University, and Kira had met some guy who was also a kitsune and that was that." Lydia explained. 

"But Scott never knew?" Allison clarified. 

"He knows now... he told me about it in class one day. She strung him along for a while there and then she finally told him after winter break of last year. Stiles told me that he was already talking about you again at that point though... like how much he missed you and stuff." Cat interjected. Allison smiled softly. 

"So how is the GED going?" Lydia asked Allison, as she poured maple syrup onto her plate.

"It's good, I'm actually already almost done. I have a few more tests left but it'll be nice to be a high school graduate. How's school for you?" 

"Boring. I can't find a major that's challenging enough. Jordan thinks I should double major, but in what, I don't know yet." Lydia boasted. 

"You're a double major right, Cat?" Allison asked.

"Yes, in history and political science... and a minor in Arabic."

"Stiles told me that you speak French and you're learning Arabic too?" Lydia asked, trying to play nice and make conversation with the new girl.

"Tu parle francais?" Allison asked excitedly.

"Oui, and some conversational German and Spanish. The Arabic is coming along too, I guess." Cat explained. 

Lydia rolled her eyes and took out her phone. She was staring down at it with a morose look on her face. "I think we have to go... Scott just texted me. Sheriff Stilinski is bringing over some files and the guys want everyone there." Lydia announced to the girls

"Then let's go, I'll drive." Allison said, picking her keys off the table and grinning.


	27. The Murder Board

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles gathers everyone at his house to go over what Coach Finnstock had told them at the hospital about his attack. Sheriff Stilinski and Deputy Parrish bring over an update on a new dead body, and Stiles sees a pattern emerge, before he himself falls victim to an attack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a reminder that lamassu's are good protector demons in Mesopotamian mythology. They are generally large creatures with human heads, wings, and either the paws of a lion or the hooves of a bull.

It was 5pm and the sun wouldn't be setting for a few hours, as Scott, Isaac, Cora, Liam, Hayden, Mason, Corey and Malia sat in Stiles' living room, watching Stiles stare at the large glass murder board with pictures and names and red tape plastered all over it. He gnawed on the end of the white china pencil that he held in between his thumb and pointer finger. He had a mess of gruesome crime scene photos splayed out by his feet on the floor. He watched as the front door opened and three girls walked through. 

"Oh shit..." He mumbled, while turning to catch Scott's reaction.

"Allison?!" Scott leapt to his feet and stumbled over Isaac and Cora's long legs to reach the girls who had just come into the house. "What... what are you doing here?" 

Lydia walked over and took Scott's seat, mildly grinning over the chaos that would ensue. Stiles wrapped his arm around his girlfriend's waist, and pressed his lips against her forehead. "Hey babe.." He whispered out, still staring at Scott and Allison. Cat placed her notebooks and textbooks on the coffee table and sat next to Malia on the couch. 

"This is not what it looks like..." Scott tried to position himself between Allison and Stiles' murder board.

"It looks like one of Stiles' famous murder boards... almost like you guys are trying to figure out who's been attacking all these people in Beacon Hills lately" Allison said, staring at Scott with her arms folded across her chest. Isaac laughed and Cora elbowed him in the ribs. 

"Uh.. how... wait." Scott struggled.

"Okay, we really don't have time for you to figure this out, buddy. Allison has known for weeks because she overheard you and Argent talking, so can we all sit down and focus on this instead?" Stiles interrupted, as Scott followed Allison to the couch to sit next to Cat and Malia, his mouth agape. "Perfect timing!" Stiles announced as Sheriff Stilinski and Deputy Parrish walked through the door. "What do you got for me, Daddy?" Stiles rubbed his hands together and grinned, excited to hear the latest updates from the police chief. 

"There was only one body found this morning and it doesn't fit the same M.O." The Sheriff informed his son, as he handed Stiles a manilla folder full of pictures and reports, and then hung his jacket up on a hook by the front door.

"How does it not fit the M.O.?" Stiles questioned. 

Parrish, who had made his way to sit on the arm of the sofa that Lydia rested in, piped up. "We found this guy inside of his house, and he'd been there for weeks. The rest of the victims were attacked outside." 

"So he has nothing to do with our attacker?" Scott asked, leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"Well, not exactly, the wounds were pretty similar with one exception." Parrish said.

"That he was found inside." Isaac tried to finish Parrish's sentence.

"No.... he had his heart ripped out of his chest." Stiles interrupted, reading the report that Parrish had written for the case file.

"Brutal." Isaac said, rubbing his hand over his chest.

Stiles taped the picture and the report up to the bottom corner of the board and drew a question mark next to it in white pencil. "We don't know if he has anything to do with it, but I'm not gonna rule it out." He announced to the group, as he turned around to face them. Sheriff Stilinski had made his way back into the living room, holding a Chinese take out box and a fork, as he stuffed cold, leftover chow mein into his mouth. "So what do we know so far?" Stiles asked the group.

"The ages and genders and occupations are all random, this guy doesn't have a preference in his victims." The Sheriff said, speaking with his mouth full.

"They're all happening at night." Malia reminded the group. 

"Some people were slashed with like claws." Liam piped up.

Mason cut Liam off. "Yea, but some people had like detached limbs and others were bitten. That one guy had all three done to him." He looked up at Stiles, from the floor, where the rest of the younger members of the Pack were sitting.

"What if it's the Grim Reaper? I mean, that's what Coach said..." Isaac asked, his eyes widening at Stiles and then the rest of the group. 

Stiles narrowed his eyes at the handsome, blonde wolf. "Coach is the only one who said that, and it's Coach... Don't you think that people would have described it carrying a scythe... or not described anything at all, because if it was the Grim Reaper, everyone who got attacked would have died." Stiles said exasperated by Isaac.

"I guess..." Isaac pursed his lips and sunk into the couch next to Cora.

"Have you figured anything out from the books, Cat?" Allison asked, causing Scott to fidget uncomfortably.

Cat shook her head, touching her notebook on the table in front of her. "The descriptions haven't been specific enough. It could be dozens of things in either my Mesopotamia books or my Western Civ. books. I just don't know. I feel like we're still missing like one piece of identifying evidence to figure out what they are." Cat explained to the group, defeat in her tone.

"Stiles, what is it?" Scott said, leaning his head over the table, watching his best friend pull crime scene photos off of the murder board and out of the file his dad had just given him and begin spreading them on the floor. 

"There's a pattern." Stiles announced, getting off his knee and standing up to look at the pictures as a whole. The group rushed around him. "I've been thinking about it ever since Coach told us he got attacked as he was leaving the high school. Greenberg's statement says that he literally found Coach in a pool of his own blood outside of the main entrance to the school." 

"So what's the pattern?" Malia asked, annoyed at Stiles' lack of automatic clarity. 

"My dad got attacked outside of that old abandoned house, on their front stoop. At first, I thought it was just people getting attacked outside of their homes, like a crime of opportunity, but with my dad and then Coach.... it's doorways... dark doorways. What if these creatures can't get inside of a house or don't like the light or something, so they get you when you're coming or going?" Stiles proposed. 

"I think you did find the pattern." Sheriff Stilinski patted his son on the shoulder and smiled.

"Does that help you at all?" Allison asked, turning back to Cat who was not standing with everyone else, but instead was flipping through her books on the couch. 

"I don't know... maybe.. it sounds familiar-ish... I'm just gonna have to really dig into this stuff tonight." She said as she rubbed her forehead. 

"Sheriff, if the pattern is at night, we should be going out on extra patrols." Parrish mentioned.

"Guns don't work on these things, Parrish, I know, I tried." The Sheriff reminded the young Deputy of how he unloaded his entire clip into the creature that attacked him.

"You need to enforce a mandatory curfew, Dad. I mean, people shouldn't even be walking their dogs at night anymore. You get inside once the sun goes down, and you stay inside until it comes back up." Stiles said firmly to his father.

"I think you're right, kid. We need to get back to the station and talk to the Mayor." Sheriff Stilinski motioned to Parrish, who kissed Lydia and then followed the Sheriff out the door to the squad car.

"You all should head home. We'll pick this back up tomorrow afternoon." Stiles said to everyone, as he rearranged the pictures from the floor onto the murder board. 

Everyone began to disperse out the front door. "Lydia, I'll drop you off at home." Malia offered, as she walked out the front door. 

"Stiles..." Lydia stopped before she followed Malia to her car. "It's not a premonition, just a feeling.. be careful tonight." She squeezed Stiles' bicep and walked out the door.

"Always with the ominous feelings, Lyds." Stiles muttered under his breath, after Lydia closed the door behind her.

"Allison, we really need to talk about all of this." Scott said, quietly in the corner, by the door, as he slipped his arms through his jean jacket.

"Okay, so just follow Cat and I home and we'll talk at my house." Allison said, firmly, as she approached the front door with her boyfriend. "Cat, you coming?" 

"Yea, yea... I'll be right out." She shut her books and slipped her nude, satin, floral embroidered bomber jacket over her shoulders. She gathered her books up into her arms and ran over to Stiles. "I'll see you later?" Stiles nodded, and kissed her on the lips, her books against her chest creating a space between them that he didn't love. "Don't come over too late. I don't want you getting caught in the dark." She reminded him, kissing him lightly again. She heard Scott's bike engine start, and smiled sweetly at Stiles. "Love you." 

"Love you!" Stiles shouted after her. He grabbed some chow mein off the counter in the kitchen and went back to work on his murder board.

* * *

 

The sun was setting in ten minutes. Stiles had gotten caught up in his work, and knew that he would be getting to Allison's by the time that the sun had set. He thought it would be fine since the entrance to the hotel was brightly lit and had doormen out every night who so far had been unscathed. He glanced at his phone. 8:19PM, it read. A text message from Cat was waiting to be opened. "I _forgot my Mesopotamia notebook on the coffee table, can you make sure to bring it? Also, Mr. Argent said to bring a change of clothes, since he doesn't want you and Scott leaving to go home after it's dark. A bientot. xo._ " Stiles smirked at his iPhone. They had began using "a bientot" as a replacement for "see you soon" ever since Sylvie, the coven witch, said it to Cat. For some reason it made the two of them burst into a fit of giggles every time. He shoved his phone back into his pocket and ran upstairs to grab some clothes and his toothbrush and his backpack. The sun was beginning to set. 

Stiles zipped his backpack up and grabbed his keys off his desk. He thumbed the small tan lamassu keychain dangling from his key ring, and smiled. He remembered the morning in the Oriental Institute in Chicago with Cat fondly, and the smile that spread across her face when he revealed the present he got for the both of them at the gift shop. He locked the front door and opened the door to his Jeep, throwing his backpack in on the passenger seat. His phone vibrated in his pocket. " _Babe, it's getting dark, if you haven't left already, just stay home tonight._ ", the text from Cat read. " _No worries, I'm on my way._ " Stiles typed back, shoving the phone back into his pocket. 

"Oh shit, her notebook." Stiles said aloud, remembering that he forgot to grab it from the coffee table. 

Stiles heard a loud bang, and looked up to see fireworks going off a few blocks over. Stiles fumbled with his keys and shook his head. 

"Must be the Fourth of July... stupid kids, should just get back inside." He muttered to himself. He looked around and realized the sun had set. No one was going to follow the curfew on the Fourth of July. Tonight would be a bloodbath. He started getting nervous, his hands shook as he looked for his house key. He heard a quiet shriek and looked up, a dark cloaked figure stood looming over him. "Oh fuck." He screamed. 


	28. The Hospital Days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles was brutally attacked on the Fourth of July. It was now July 7th and he still laid in a coma in Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital.

> _"Hey mom, what's up?" Scott said, as he answered his phone, standing in Allison's living room with Allison and Cat._
> 
> _"Scott, you need to get Cat and get to the hospital right now. Stiles has been attacked." Melissa McCall replied through the phone, her voice shaking._
> 
> _"What? What do you mean? Is he okay?" Scott's entire demeanor changed, he struggled to keep his rage and his fear bottled up._
> 
> _"The Sheriff just brought him in, you need to get here now, Scott!" She shouted before hanging up._

* * *

Cat rubbed her hand over her forehead, dragging all the little hairs tickling her face back. She leaned back in the chair next to his bed, staring at him. It was the middle of the night and the hospital was quiet. The nursing staff had kept him alone in a double occupant room, and Melissa had kept fresh blankets and pillows on the other bed in case Cat wanted to sleep there, but it had been two days since the attack and she had slept in the chair, slumped over next to him every night. She looked at her phone. 3:58AM, July 7. Officially three days of Stiles being in a coma. She shoved her phone back into the pocket of her slouchy cardigan.

She leaned forward and rubbed the top of his left arm, seemingly the only part of his body that wasn't covered in deep cuts or gauze. "Please wake up." She whispered to the unconscious boy in front of her. "Stiles, I have no idea what I'm doing... I really need you to wake up." Cat wiped a tear away off her cheek, and stared at Stiles, still motionless, still comatose. She sighed. "You know, when all of my friends from high school went away to school, and I left NYU, I used to drive down to this private beach about fifteen minutes from my old house. It overlooked the Throgs Neck Bridge and the Long Island Sound and New York City. It is this really amazing view and it's secluded and quiet. I would just drive down there and sit by myself and hope for the day when I had someone in my life that I would want to share moments like that with. Going to Vista Point and the Golden Gate Bridge with you the night of our second patrol felt a lot like going to the beach back home. It was a relief... like, I finally found my person..."

She sighed. She had no idea if he could hear her talking to him. She leaned forward, resting her chin on the edge of the bed, and staring up at him. "You can't take that away from me, Stiles. I just got you. It's only been six months. I was supposed to have years, Stiles. Years and years and years with you. That's what we've talked about and I have got to say, you know I have some serious abandonment issues so you really, you have to wake up. You cannot leave me like this."

Cat sniffled, rubbing the back of her hand against her nose, and then going back to hold the top of Stiles' arm. "Seriously, Stiles, you have to wake up because I am just one of like a million people who depend on you every day and our lives will be ruined if you're not in them. My life will be ruined." She stood up and walked away, trying to compose herself. She walked back over and stood next to his pillow. She ran her fingers through his messy, brown hair.

"I won't get over this. Your dad won't get over this. Scott won't get over this. None of the people in your life will ever get over you if you die, so you have to dig in now, Stiles. You have got to start finding your way back to us." She walked back over to the chair next to his bed, and sat down, taking his hand in hers again. "I can't sleep... I can't sleep without you and if you die, I'll never sleep again. Please, Stiles, I love you." She rested her head against his arm and wept, eventually falling asleep on the edge of his bed.

 The light had just started to peek through the cracks in the blinds when Sheriff Stilinski opened the door to his son's room. He placed his hand softly on Cat's shoulder. She was sleeping, with her head resting on her hands, on the edge of Stiles' bed; his hand tucked under hers. The Sheriff surveyed his son. Stiles had a long gauze dressing attached to his neck. He looked at the dressings on the palm of his right hand and the underside of his forearms: defensive wounds. He looked over at his left hand which had been placed in a waterproof blue and orange cast. Cat had asked the doctor to alternate the colors for Stiles because when he woke up finally, he would be less distressed by his broken hand if it reminded him of his beloved Mets. The Sheriff smiled when he heard his son's girlfriend forcefully requesting the doctor acquiesce to her demands about the cast. He knew that under his blankets, Stiles had dressings over his shin, and his torso, over his liver and intestine. The Sheriff sighed, and nudged Cat's shoulder.

"Cat... wake up... it's Noah." He whispered, not wanting to startle her. "Cat.." 

"Is he awake?" Her head shot up. She had been by his bedside night and day since the attack on the Fourth of July. Stiles had hit his head when the creature who attacked him threw him to the ground outside of his front door, and the swelling in his brain hadn't subsided completely yet, leaving him in a coma. 

"No... he's not." The Sheriff sighed. "But you should go home and shower, eat something. Allison and Scott are outside. Allison will take you home and Scott and I will call you if anything happens. I promise." 

Cat nodded reluctantly. She didn't want to leave Stiles for even a second but she thought that she would give the Sheriff some time alone with his son. "I'll come back around dinner to relieve you?" She asked.

"Sounds good, kid." The Sheriff tried to force a smile, and brought his son's girlfriend in for a long hug, tears swelling in his eyes as he held the small girl.

She leaned over and kissed Stiles on the lips, accidentally nudging the oxygen tubes attached to his nostrils. She readjusted them, and leaned into his ear. "I'll be back later. I think your dad really wants you to wake up for him, so try to do your best." She kissed his cheek and walked out of the room, watching the Sheriff take her place next to the bed.

* * *

 Allison walked into Cat's room to see her sitting on the floor, surrounded by the crime scene photos that she had demanded Parrish give her, at the foot of her bed. She saw Stiles' hoodie, the one he gave her the night of their second patrol together, laying on top of one of Cat's pillows. Allison choked back tears. She understood how Cat felt. If Allison ever lost Scott, she wouldn't know what to do. She was afraid, Stiles was her friend too, and she and Cat had become very close in a very short amount of time. Cat looked up when she heard Allison open the door and Allison saw her new friend with tears streaming down her cheeks. Allison rushed over to Cat's side, pushing the photographs away, and embraced her. She felt Cat shaking, trying to catch her breath as she sobbed into Allison's shoulder. 

"It's all my fault." She managed to get out in between breaths and sobs. 

"It's not. Stiles would never want you beating yourself up like this. They got six people that night, and it was just shit luck that Stiles happened to be one of them. He has always been tough. He'll come out of this." Allison reassured her. "He loves you and he would never want to leave you. He'll come out of it."

Cat lifted her head from Allison's embrace and picked up the photos. "I'm horrible at this. I don't know what to look for. He would know exactly what to look for in these pictures. He would find something that would help." She threw them towards the middle of the room. 

"Parrish, Lydia, Mason and my dad... they are all looking for clues in the pictures and at the crime scene, they'll find something. I swear."

Cat's phone began vibrating on her bed and her stomach sank. She scrambled to get her phone before it went to voicemail. "Hello?"

" _Cat, he spiked a fever and they sent him back into surgery, you need to get back down here._ " Scott said through the phone.

Allison grabbed her keys off the dining room table and looked at Cat. "Let's go." 

* * *

 Isaac, Cora, Malia, Lydia and Derek got to the hospital the same time as Cat and joined her and Allison in the elevator. No one spoke a word. They all just tried hard not to watch Cat as she attempted to compose herself. The doors opened and Cat ran towards Scott, Liam, Melissa and the Sheriff. 

"He's okay, sweetie." Melissa stopped Cat from running into his empty room. "He's still in surgery. Doctor Dunbar is closing him up right now."

Cat's knees shook, and began to buckle. Isaac, standing behind her, grabbed her arm and helped keep her standing up. "What happened?" She asked as she caught her breath.

"The patch on the perforation in his intestine tore and he spiked a fever because bile was filling his abdomen. They caught it quickly, they fixed it and he should be okay." Melissa explained. "He's going to be in post-op for a few hours but they'll bring him back to his room before rounds tonight." 

"I see Stiles has quite the crowd again tonight." Doctor Dunbar interrupted Melissa, as he walked through the doors from the procedure wing of the hospital. "He's doing great.... one tough kid, you got there, Sheriff." Doctor Dunbar patted Noah on the back.

"How's his head, Doc?" Noah asked. 

"The swelling has decreased significantly today. Hopefully he'll be coming out of it soon." The doctor reported with a smile. Cat looked at Scott and he brought her in for a hug. 

"Thanks Doc." Sheriff Stilinski shook Liam's dad's hand, then turned to his son's best friend and girlfriend and hugged them.

* * *

Isaac, Cora, Malia, Lydia, Derek, Liam and the Sheriff had all gone home for the night, after Stiles finally got wheeled back into his room. Cat resumed her spot next to his bed, and Scott and Allison were sitting on the empty bed, pushed against the wall, across the room, watching Cat and Stiles, not wanting to leave her alone that night.  

"It's been four days, Scott." Allison whispered to her boyfriend. "She's slept here every night, and I can't get her to come home with me." 

"I know. I don't know what to say to her. There is nothing to say. I mean, Stiles is my best friend but I'm not in love with him, I don't know how to make her feel better about this, when I feel like shit about it all too." Scott shook his head, and raised his voice a little. "I hate this so much. He's my best friend... if he doesn't wake up, I don't know what I'm gonna do." Scott hopped off the bed and walked towards Stiles. 

"Do you want to sit here?" Cat offered, trying to be conscious of not stepping on anyone else's toes. 

"No, it's okay, stay there." Scott reassured her. "How are you holding up?"

Cat stared up at Scott. "I don't know... I miss his voice, you know? He'd be cracking jokes if he were awake. He would know what to do or what to say.. he always has a plan." Scott nodded. 

"You know that if something were to happen to him, you'd still be a part of the Pack, and you'd still be our friend, right, Cat?" Allison mentioned from across the room, hopping off the bed and following Scott towards Stiles' bed.

"Yea." Cat said, her eyes getting red with tears, nodding.

"She's right, you know. You've become one of my best friends over this past year." Scott reiterated. "The Pack would be lost without you."

"I don't know if that's true. It would definitely be lost without him though." She squeezed Stiles' bandaged hand gently.

Scott glanced at Allison, who was yawning, and watched her climb back into the empty bed across the room.  

"Do you want me to stay up with you?" Scott asked Cat. She shook her head, and went back to looking at Stiles. 

Scott followed Allison to the empty bed and wrapped her up in his arms. They dozed off holding each other. Cat fell asleep, her head against Stiles' leg, shortly after. The morning broke, marking the fifth day since Stiles' attack. Scott woke when he heard someone whispering in the room. He opened his eyes and saw Lydia standing on the other side of Stiles' bed, speaking softly to him. She was brushing her fingers through his messy and greasy hair. 

"I'm right here, Stiles. After all we've been through, you can't do this. Come back to me." She whispered, her voice shaking. Scott fidgeted enough to wake Allison but not to catch Lydia's attention.  "Stiles, do you want me to scream? Will that bring you back? Just come back." Lydia left her face inches from his, but pulled back when Stiles twitched. 

"Oh my god, did you see that?!" Scott leapt off the bed and ran towards Stiles, waking Cat up. Stiles twitched again. 

"Stiles? Stiles, it's me... It's Lydia." Lydia said louder, rubbing his arm. 

Cat stood, darting glances around the room, until she saw Stiles' hand twitch again. "Ugh..." A small moan slipped from his lips.

"Allison, go get my mom!" Scott yelled. 

"Stiles?!" Lydia craned her neck to get her face over Stiles'.

Stiles let out another moan. Cat was shaking. She was feeling out of place because of Lydia suddenly. Another pained moan escaped from Stiles' mouth. Melissa burst through the door. "What's going on?" She asked.

"He's waking up, I think..." Scott said, frantic. 

"Scott, come take some of his pain... quick." Melissa demanded of her son, as she stepped past Lydia to check Stiles' vitals. Scott walked over next to Lydia and held his best friend's hand. He winced as the immense amount of pain that Stiles was in coursed through his own veins. Stiles moaned again. 

"Stiles, what are you trying to say?" Lydia asked.

"Cat..." Stiles barely got her name out of his mouth before he finally opened his eyes. He searched the room, wincing as he barely moved his neck.

"What'd he say?" Lydia asked the others in the room. 

"Cat..." Stiles repeated, more substantially this time.

"Oh my god." Cat covered her mouth and stepped forward to Stiles, tears streaming down her face. 

"Lydia..." Allison placed her hand on the strawberry blonde girl's shoulder, and pulled her away from the bed. Lydia had tears in her eyes, part joy, part sadness, part humiliation. 

"I'm gonna get the Sheriff." Scott ran out of the room to look for Stiles' dad.

"Hi..." Stiles whispered, as he curled his fingers around Cat's hand and saw her face for the first time in days. A tear fell down his cheek as he looked up at the girl he loved. "Ow.." He winced.

"Don't move." Cat laughed softly, and wiped the tears off her chin and cheek. "I love you, Stiles Stilinski." She whispered as she leaned down and kissed him softly on the lips. 

"I.... love.... you.." He managed in between labored breaths. 

Sheriff Stilinski burst through the door, with Doctor Dunbar in tow, and began crying as he saw his son finally awake. 

"Dad..." Stiles whispered. 

"I'll kill you if you do this to me again, Stiles. You hear me?" Sheriff whispered to his son. Stiles nodded softly. The Sheriff pressed his forehead against his sons. It was the picture of relief. 

"I'm okay.. I'm okay, I swear." Stiles said, turning his head to look at Cat and his Dad. 

"Why don't we all clear out for a few minutes and let me run some tests?" Doctor Dunbar gestured to the door, and then ordered Melissa to get his blood pressure. 

Word had spread that Stiles had woken up and the crowd began to form. Malia and Liam and Hayden were the first to arrive, followed shortly after by Parrish with breakfast sandwiches and coffee for everyone, and Derek, Braeden, their new baby, Isaac and Cora. Cat, the Sheriff, Scott, Allison and Lydia sat in the waiting room outside of Stiles' room for hours, waiting for him to come back from CT scan and the countless other tests that they then had to run. They wheeled him back into his room, and Melissa emerged with a message. 

"He's doing well. The swelling has gone down almost completely, and the patch on his intestine and his liver are holding nicely. He can't talk much because the cut he got on his throat nicked his larynx a bit, it'll heal on it's own but he's not going to be holding any lecture series any time soon." She announced. 

"Can we see him?" The Sheriff asked, standing in front of his friend. 

"He asked to see Cat." Melissa told them. 

Noah nodded his head, and gave Cat a pat on the back. He understood that his son wanted to see the girl he loved for a minute alone. Cat opened the door and quietly closed it behind her. She saw Stiles open his eyes and furrow his brow. He feebly lifted his non-casted hand and she rushed over to him, tears streamed down her face. She gently placed both of her hands on his cheeks, avoiding any places where he had been cut, and pressed her lips against his. It was a wet and salty, greedy and emotional kiss. He smiled cheekily and lightly held her arm with his fingers. 

"I'm so sorry." He whispered, his voice cracking. 

"I am, if I hadn't left my notebook, you wouldn't have had to go back."

Stiles interrupted her. "Stop. It wasn't your fault." He stared at her with his big, brown eyes, and tried to reassure her that she was not at fault. "I'm sorry I scared you. I promise I am never leaving you." 

"I am so in love with you, Stiles." She told him, her head pressed against his upper chest. He wrapped his arm around her, wincing in pain over the IV tugging in his hand. He didn't care, he wanted to hold her.

"I am so in love with you." He whispered back. 

She stood up, wiping the tears off her face, and looked at him. "I'm gonna go get your Dad and Scott." Stiles nodded slightly.

The three of them walked into the room and saw Stiles picking at the dressing on his neck. "They're gonna tie you down if you don't leave that alone." The Sheriff joked at his fidgety son's expense. Stiles smiled at his dad, who came over to embrace the beaten up boy. "You know, she basically never left this hospital room. I think she was in it more than you were." Noah glanced over at Cat and smiled. 

"She's pretty great." Stiles whispered, and Noah agreed. "Scotty?" Stiles said aloud. Scott approached the bed. "You okay, buddy?" Stiles asked.

"I'm supposed to ask you that." Scott said, holding back tears of joy over his best friend's recovery. Stiles grinned. "I'm okay." Scott told him.

"Buddy, your mom said that my stuff is in the closet over there." Stiles whispered, his voice hoarse and raspier than usual.

Scott grabbed the clear plastic bag full of Stiles' belongings from the cupboard by the bathroom and placed it on the table next to Stiles' bed. "What do you need?" Scott asked.

"My keys." Stiles lifted the hand with the cast around it.

"Are you insane? You're not going anywhere." Noah raised his voice. 

Scott fished the bloody keys out and placed them in Stiles' hand. "Cat..." Stiles summoned his girlfriend over. "I remember what happened." 

"We don't have to go over that now." Sheriff Stilinski said, grabbing his sons toes at the end of the bed.

Stiles placed the keys in Cat's hands. "It had wings..." 

"What did?" Cat asked, furrowing her brow, and glancing at Scott and Noah.

"The thing.. it had wings." Stiles' voice cracked. "Before I passed out, I opened my hand and a flash of white, warm light came from my keys." His voice got less and less strong the more he spoke. He stared up at Cat, hoping that was enough to go on.

Cat looked at Stiles' keys in her hand. She thumbed the small lamassu figurine, smudged with Stiles' blood. "I think I know what it is."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love this chapter. Stiles is always the one sleeping at the hospital and fretting over other people, it felt nice to show how many people would show up and would be distraught if something happened to Stiles.


	29. The Rabisu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat has a breakthrough because of Stiles' attack.

> _Stiles placed the keys in Cat's hands. "It had wings..."_
> 
> _"What did?" Cat asked, furrowing her brow, and glancing at Scott and Noah._
> 
> _"The thing.. it had wings." Stiles' voice cracked. "Before I passed out, I opened my hand and a flash of white, warm light came from my keys." His voice got less and less strong the more he spoke. He stared up at Cat, hoping that was enough to go on._
> 
> _Cat looked at Stiles' keys in her hand. She thumbed the small lamassu figurine, smudged with Stiles' blood. "I think I know what it is."_

* * *

 

"It's called a rabisu... they're these.. I don't know, demons in Assyrian mythology...." Cat paused, and brought her hand to her forehead. "God damnit.. I should've realized what it was the other day when we were at your house working on the murder board."

"It looked like the Grim Reaper with wings." Stiles knew where she was going with this train of thought. 

"....Yea, I bet it did. Isaac mentioned the Grim Reaper, but I... the two of you were bickering and I just tuned you out, but I should've put it all together before any of this happened." She rubbed her eyes, trying to keep a stream of guilty tears from rushing down her face.

"I'm confused, is it the Grim Reaper?" Sheriff Stilinski asked, looking like he was about to throw in the towel. 

"No, no... but it's what the myth of the Grim Reaper is based on. Stiles had figured it out and not even realized it. The saying goes, 'Death is knocking at your door'... It's cause the rabisu attacks people right outside of their homes or any dark doorway, really. The entirety of the Grim Reaper legend comes from the rabisu, except the rabisu is much more brutal, and it doesn't always kill." Cat explained to the three men. 

"Yea, sometimes it just severely maims." Stiles interjected, lifting both of his injured arms.

"So it didn't kill Stiles because it didn't want to?" Scott asked, still confused.

"No... no, Stiles said there was a white, warm light coming from his hand before he passed out. I think it was a lamassu." 

"Well, now you've lost me." Sheriff Stilinski said as he sat in the chair on the other side of Stiles' bed. "What the hell is a lamassu?" 

"A good demon." Stiles said out loud. 

Cat smiled and turned to her injured boyfriend. "Do you remember when I was googling stuff about lamassu's in the car after we left the museum in Chicago?" She asked Stiles. 

"Yea, you were reading all that stuff to me."

"Then I found that engraving that was next to that lamassu statue in Iraq?" Stiles nodded. Cat looked up at Scott and the Sheriff. "This is going to sound crazy, and dumb, but I think the keychain saved his life." 

Sheriff Stilinski narrowed his eyes at Cat. "What?" Stiles was following but she had completely lost Noah and Scott.

"I found this.... spell, essentially, and it was what the priests used to carve next to the lamassu's in Ancient Mesopotamia - it gave them their power. I found it online, I read it out loud to Stiles in the car, but because we were driving my car, I was holding his keys.. his lamassu keychain, when I said the incantation out loud. It must've been a protective charm or something that woke the lamassu up."

"But I thought you weren't the kind of witch that does spells and stuff like that?" Sheriff Stilinski questioned. 

"I didn't think I was, but it's the only thing that makes sense, if any of this even makes sense."

"What is a lamassu anyway?" Scott held his hand out, gesturing for Cat to pass him the keychain, so he could look at the mythical creature. 

"Like Stiles said, they're good demons. The Assyrians and Babylonians would carve statues or paintings of lamassu's into the entryways of their homes, palaces, temples, gardens, whatever... they believed that the lamassu's kept bad demons from entering those homes and harming the inhabitants." Cat explained. 

"A bad demon like a rabidsoo... whatever thing." Sheriff Stilinski gestured to Cat as he struggled to remember the name. 

"A rabisu, Dad." Stiles corrected Noah.

"Exactly." Cat clarified. 

"So how do we stop it?" Scott asked. 

"I don't know.. I need my books and my laptop to figure the rest out and to confirm that that is actually what is plaguing Beacon Hills." Cat told Scott and the Sheriff. 

"I have an idea that might work in the meantime.." Stiles announced, looking at his keys in Scott's hand. 

Scott called everyone in from the waiting room, and Cat and Stiles explained their theory about the rabisu and the lamassu. 

"Cora and I can go pick up your books and stuff." Isaac offered. 

"No, I need Cora." Stiles interrupted. "Cora, you're an art major, right?" Cora nodded. "I need you to make a stencil of the lamassu, and it needs to be really accurate." 

"I can do that." Cora assured him. 

"Then I need you to make a bunch of duplicate stencils... Ethan, do you remember what happened to all that transparent glow-in-the-dark paint that Danny used at his black light party a few years ago?" Stiles asked. 

"Yea, Danny still has it, I'm pretty sure." Ethan answered. 

"Can you get it from him?" Stiles asked, his voice getting weaker from all the talking. 

"Lydia, can you come with me? Danny likes you more than he likes me nowadays." Ethan asked. 

"Sure... why not?" Lydia said quietly. 

"If we can get everything together; tonight we fight back. I don't know about you guys, but I am so sick of losing." Stiles said firmly to the group. 


	30. The Babylonian Allegory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat and Stiles begin figuring out more about their new foe, and what brought it to Beacon Hills.

Stiles woke as his nurse came in for pre-dinner rounds to check his vitals. He glanced down and saw his chocolate brown-haired girlfriend asleep on top of her notebooks on the edge of his bed. He motioned down to his nurse to pass him Cat's laptop, and he tried to open it and adjust it in a way that was not painful for it to rest on his lap. He was researching for about an hour when Cat finally roused from her nap. 

"I drooled on my notebook." Cat said groggily as she dragged her hand across her face and lifted her head. Stiles laughed and picked up her notebook, wiping it across the blanket on the bed. "How long have I been asleep for?" She asked.

"I don't know, but I've been up for about an hour so.."

"Did you find anything?" She asked, looking at her computer and books, wondering how he managed to get them from under her while she slept.

"Not much since everything is in an ancient language that I can't read, but... uh... let me see your notebook?" Cat handed Stiles her Ancient Mesopotamia notebook, opened to the page about the rabisu. "You wrote 'salt repels'... like, salt is their version of mountain ash."

"Yea, I guess.. I can call Scott and tell him to salt people's doors along with painting the lamassus."

"But like... any salt? Like, is kosher salt gonna do the trick?" Stiles asked.

"Shit... I don't know. Probably not, considering the Ancient Mesopotamian civilization came well before the Jews did, so Kosher salt would make no sense." Cat explained, pacing around the room to think.

"What would make sense then?" Stiles prodded her for more information.

"Okay, uh, Mesopotamia is the Fertile Crescent.. so like modern day Iraq, Iran, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel.. that area... and they all got their salt from like... oh shit, does it say in my notebook? I know we covered the trade of salt as a commodity in class." Stiles began flipping through her notes. "NO I REMEMBER!" She shouted. "It came from the sea, so like the Mediterranean or the Persian Gulf."

"So probably pure, unoxidized sea salt?" Stiles asked. Cat nodded and began composing a text message to Scott. Stiles continued flipping through her notes. "You scribbled something in the margin, what does that say?" 

Cat hit send on her text to Scott and walked over to the bed to lean over Stiles' shoulder. "Umm... summoned? I think, maybe. I don't remember why I wrote that though. I don't usually write that messy, so it must've been an afterthought or something he mentioned before class ended or something."

"Do they need to be summoned? Is this another kanima thing, because that really sucked." Stiles thought back unhappily to the time when Jackson terrorized Beacon Hills as a kanima. 

"I don't know, google it." She watched as Stiles typed away on her computer, contorting his face in frustration as his search came up fruitless.

"There is nothing about this thing... how is there nothing?! If there's nothing, then how can someone summon it?" Stiles asked, aggravated.

"There's probably something in a book about Ancient Babylon or something that's not on the internet. Here, give me my computer, I'm gonna email my professor and ask him, I think he has videos of his lectures." Cat began typing on her computer. 

"Has he answered you yet?" Stiles asked, trying to lean in to peek at her computer. 

"I haven't even sent the email yet, Stiles." She smiled and shook her head, quietly laughing to herself over how absurd and impatient her boyfriend could be. 

Stiles sat in bed, flipping through Cat's books and trying to scratch under his cast with her pen. "Anything? Anything at all?" He asked as he bit at his thumbnail. 

"OH MY GOD. No. I've been sitting here hitting refresh for like twenty minutes and there is.... his reply. Thank god." She replied.

Stiles ripped the laptop from in front of her and she threw her hands up in exasperation. "It's loading, it's loading..... why won't this file load faster?!" Stiles tapped his finger against the area next to her trackpad on her MacBook Pro; impatient and fidgety. He just wanted to crack this case before Cat left him to go out and enchant all of the lamassu's that the Pack were going to paint around town that night. The video file loaded and Stiles hit play. "Is... is that what Professor Simon looks like? He's handsome... like, really handsome... is this why you loved his class so much?" Cat stared at Stiles with her eyes wide open, and an 'are you kidding me?' look on her face. "No... nope, of course that's not why you took his class... I'm just gonna shut up now." 

"We have got to get you out of this hospital soon because you are totally losing it." She said as she shook her head at him, and reached over to her computer to turn up the volume. 

"T _he Rabisu have to be summoned though. However, and unfortunately for those who didn't know, they are known to generally turn on their master, which becomes their first kill. The most famous account of this comes from one of the nine clay tablets that describe the myth of the Rabisu. In the story, a royal scribe had fallen in love with a Babylonian princess, but because of his common status, he could not marry her. The scribe summoned the rabisu to kill the King and the princess' suitor so that he could be with her. But the rabisu turned on the scribe, killing him brutally and getting a taste of bloodlust, it went on to kill the entire royal family, including the princess... Now really, this is all just an allegory about the frustrations over the lack of social mobility in the Babylonian Emp-.... Yes, you have a question, Sam?"_ Professor Simon called on a student off camera in the video playing on Cat's computer. 

 _"Dr. Simon, this is a dumb question, but did the tablet say anything about how they stopped the rabisu? or did it just stop after killing the royal family?"_ The student asked.

_"Yea, so the tablet does go on to explain that a priest from the temple came up with a ritual and a spell that killed the creature, and that then the rabisu disappeared into a cloud of firey ash, never to be seen again.... until the next idiot summoned it, I'm sure. Which actually is a good segue into our next topic in Mesopotamian mythology: spells and incantations and the procedures of the temple."_

Stiles hit the space bar on Cat's computer, pausing the video, and looked up at her. "So someone did summon these things... who the fuck would do that?.... holy shit... Did Isaac bring over the stuff from the murder board?" Stiles asked Cat, frantically looking around his hospital bed.

"Um, no, he just brought my books and laptop, why?" Cat answered. 

"It doesn't matter, I have my Dad's login information for the Sheriff's database." Stiles said as he began typing slowly on the computer. He scrolled through the case files in the database. "Oh come on, where is it... where is it.... Yes, this one." Stiles flooded Cat's computer screen with crime scene photos of the man that the Sheriff's department had found in his home dead because his heart had been ripped out of his chest. 

"Oh, well that's graphic..." Cat said, wincing at the images on her laptop.

"There was something that was bothering me about this. That's why I left it on the murder board. Parrish said that all of his wounds were the same as the other victims, except that this guy had his heart ripped out." 

"And he was found inside.." Cat reminded Stiles. 

"Does that matter though if he's the one that summoned them? If I was summoning ancient evil demons to kill people, I wouldn't do it in my backyard where people could see and hear me, I would do it in the privacy of my own home." Stiles stared up at Cat, trying to convince her that he was right. 

"Does the report say why they found the body? Did the neighbors report a smell or something?" Cat asked.

Stiles scrolled, reading the report quickly. "No, his parents came home from vacation in Europe and found him...." Stiles sighed and pursed his lips. 

"Who was it?" Cat asked. 

Stiles scrolled back up to the top of the report and read the victims name. His face went white. "Oh my god... I know this kid..."


	31. The Booty Call Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles and Cat fill in Scott on their theory about who summoned the rabisu to Beacon Hills, only for Scott to divulge a startling secret about the summoner's connection with the Pack.

Stiles had his weight pressed firmly against both Scott and the rolling stand that held his IV drip, as they did laps in the hall around the hospital. It had been eight days since he was attacked outside of his house; ending up in the hospital with deep defensive wounds on his hands, forearms, and shin, a broken wrist, a lacerated liver, a perforated intestine, a massive loss in blood, and a swollen brain that had left him in a coma for four days. In the four days since he had been awake, Stiles and Cat had figured out what had been attacking Beacon Hills: a demon from Ancient Mesopotamian mythology called a rabisu.

"So you think that Sam Wirths summoned the rabisu to Beacon Hills?" Scott asked, as he escorted his best friend around the hospital.

"I don't think, Scott, I know. He fits the bill, albeit a little too perfectly but sometimes that's fine."

"He went to Beacon Hills High with you guys, and then he went off to Berkeley and was literally in my Mesopotamia class with me, Scott. It has to be him." Cat said as she walked along with them. 

"Okay well if it was Sam, then we should talk to Malia." Scott suggested.

"Why should we talk to Malia about Sam? We talked to him so little in high school that my Dad didn't even think to mention that he was the one who had died. Did she even know him? He was so quiet.. she would've walked all over him with her little coyote paws." Stiles joked.

"Yea, she knew him. You remember, they hooked up for a couple of months during our first semester. He lived next door to Malia and Cora." Scott told the two of them.

Stiles stopped in his tracks, leaning heavily on the IV drip. "Malia dated Sam last year?!" 

"How did you not know about this?" Scott asked, turning around to look at his friend, raising his hands in the air.

"Why would I know about that? It's not like Malia and I are incredibly close anymore, not since we broke up." Stiles said, glaring at Scott. 

"Okay, why don't we just get Malia down here and see what she knows?" Cat suggested, as she took Stiles' elbow and continued leading him down the hall back to his room. 

* * *

 

Scott and Melissa helped Stiles get back into his hospital bed. Stiles had made the hospital room his own: taping the crime scene photos and lamassu stencils to the wall next to his bed. 

"Well, kiddo, you took three laps around the floor and your vitals are still good, I think Dr. Dunbar might release you tomorrow morning." Melissa said as she looked at Stiles' heart rate monitor. 

"Thank god. I am going crazy being trapped inside here. I hate waiting around to hear that the next part of the plan has worked and no one has gotten hurt. I mean, when everyone was out painting the lamassu's last night, it was nerve-racking. My nerves were racked." Stiles rambled on to Melissa. 

"I know how you feel, Stiles, but I've gotta tell you, just because you won't be here, doesn't mean that you'll be out there with them. You had three major surgeries just over a week ago, your arm is broken, and you were in a coma five days ago. You're gonna be confined to your house on bedrest for at least another month." Melissa broke the bad news to Stiles. 

"Another month, Mom?" Scott asked from next to Stiles' bed.

"I don't know what to tell you guys, I don't make the rules, I just pass them along to the Sheriff." Melissa grinned and walked out of the room, letting Malia in as she opened the door. 

"Okay what's going on? Stiles said it was life and death... and yet you're here eating Jell-O." Malia looked at Stiles, comfortably sitting in bed, wearing a t-shirt, sweatpants and hospital socks, and eating a cherry Jell-O cup. 

Stiles put the gelatin treat down on the table, and pushed the button that placed the bed in a more upright position. "It is life or death, Malia. What happened between you and Sam Wirths?" 

"Okay, I'm leaving." Malia turned on her heels. 

"Malia! Malia wait." Scott ran over and closed the door. "What Stiles should have started with was that Sam was the guy who Sheriff Stilinski and Parrish found in his house with his heart ripped out." 

"Not surprising, he was pretty weak and annoying. I thought about killing him sometimes." Malia shrugged, took Stiles' Jell-O cup off his table, and sat down on the chair, putting her feet up on the edge of Stiles' bed. Stiles' jaw dropped and he looked around for similar outrage. "Why does any of this matter though? Parrish said that he didn't think it had anything to do with the attacks." Malia said in between mouthfuls of Jell-O.

"Well, I think it does. The rabisu need someone to summon them and we think that person was Sam." Stiles clarified. 

"Makes sense, I mean, he was in that Mesopotamia class with Cat, right?" Malia asked, nonchalantly. 

"Oh my god, seriously?! Yes, yes he was, Malia. You never thought to mention that to anyone in the past few days?" Stiles raised his voice, frustration was apparent in his tone. 

"I thought Cat would know. They were in the same class."

"Cat didn't go to Beacon Hills with us, how would she have known who he was?!" Stiles yelled.

"Okay, alright... Malia, can you just tell us what happened between you and Sam?" Cat interjected, trying to stop the ex's from bickering. 

"Or really anything about Sam, I didn't really know him in high school. Did he have a bad relationship with his parents or a sibling, or do you think he was just messing around with the stuff that he learned about in class and he got caught up in something he didn't understand?" Scott asked Malia.

"No, I mean, we didn't talk much but when he would, he never said anything bad about his family or anything." Malia said, throwing the empty cup into the trash by the door. "And, I don't know, he had just started the class with Cat when I dumped him."

"So you dumped him? Were there bad feelings about all of this?" Cat asked the blunt were-coyote.

"I don't know. Listen, I was in Comm 101 with Sam last Fall and he recognized me from Beacon Hills and he started sitting next to me. He followed me around like a puppy dog, and had a big crush on me. When I found out that his dick was big, I started having sex with him pretty regularly." Malia explained. 

"Oh my god." Stiles threw his hands up in the air and rolled his eyes. 

Malia looked at Cat and mouthed the words 'huge'. She then extended her hands from each other to demonstrate how big Sam's penis was. "Okay.. yea." Cat laughed a little. "Then what happened?" 

"Then one night I let him be on top, and when I orgasmed, I lost it a little and my eyes turned blue, and I guess that he saw." 

Scott cut her off. "Wait, wait, he saw your eyes?" 

"Yea, only for a second, but then I had to explain to him what I was, well what we all were-" Malia continued. 

"Oh my god, Malia, you never thought to mention any of this?" Stiles asked.

"I'm telling you now." Malia replied, matter-of-factly. Stiles slumped in his bed and began biting at his thumb. "Then he became kind of obsessed with the whole supernatural thing, and he was all like 'let me be part of the pack, I could be useful to you all, I love you, blah blah blah' and as good as the sex was, that got really annoying after a few weeks, so I dumped him."

"WOW." Stiles yelled. 

"Uh, yea, wow... okay, was he pissed? I'm assuming he was pissed." Cat asked. 

"Yea, I guess. He sent me some really pathetic hand-written letters saying he had gone to therapy and was doing poorly in his classes, but he was learning more about the supernatural and he still loved me and he just wanted to be with me and help the Pack and oh my god, he sent me like twelve of those and they were so irritating."

"Thaaat sounds unstable." Scott said, a worried look taking over his face.

"He lived next door to you, right? Did you ever run into him?" Cat asked.

"Yea, he'd wait for me sometimes, but that stopped when I started bringing Eric home to have sex with... The last time I saw him, he was waiting outside my apartment the day I moved out. He was all 'I'll see you this summer in Beacon Hills, maybe if something comes up this summer that the Pack is having trouble with, I could help.' And I just lost it on the little loser. I was like, 'Sam, you don't even know how many things we've come up against and defeated with ease without ever needing your help. Just get away from me, it's becoming pathetic.' and I left."

"That was harsh." Scott said. 

"That was progress." Stiles corrected.

"Okay, well, Sam sounds..." Cat began.

"I think fucking crazy is the word you're looking for, Cat." Stiles interrupted. Cat raised her eyebrows and nodded slightly. "I need to talk to my Dad and see what kind of stuff they found at Sam's house." 

"Was there anything else, Malia?" Scott asked, worried of what her answer would be.

"Nah, I think that was it." Malia folder her hands behind her head and pushed Stiles' leg towards the middle of the bed with her foot. 

"Ow! Okay, wow. Can she leave now?" Stiles complained to Scott. Scott nodded and walked out with Malia. 

Cat walked over and sat on Stiles' bed. "Your dick is definitely bigger than Sam's." She told Stiles with a grin. 

"Damn right."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Malia Tate. That is all.


	32. The Missing Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles gets released from the hospital, following his attack, and gets increasingly less patient with his ability to help the Pack crack the case of who summoned the rabisu to Beacon Hills.

After nine days, Stiles had finally been released from the hospital and was finally allowed to go home. Sheriff Stilinski and Melissa McCall had decided that Stiles would be safer sleeping on the McCall's pull-out couch in Melissa's living room, then going home to a normally empty house with Noah. Sheriff Stilinski had figured that Melissa, Scott, Isaac, and Cat, all staying at the McCall's with his son would be a better option than Noah occasionally being home to look after Stiles. It was temporary, and once Stiles could get up a flight of stairs by himself, Noah would take him home to his own bed. Stiles hated having to rely on others but he loved being in the center of the action again with most of the Pack coming in and out the McCall house at certain points throughout the day.

Cora and Isaac were on Stiles duty the first day he came home since Scott had to go out to lunch with his Dad and Cat was at her internship at the Mayor's office. They sat around the McCalls living room watching Stiles sift through a box of stuff, that his Dad had brought over from the evidence locker, that was full of items seized from Sam Wirth's house. Cora was upstairs looking through Isaac's clothes, trying to find a shirt to replace her own after Stiles had accidentally spilled grape gatorade down the back of her shirt as she helped him adjust on the couch. 

"So when did the Doctor say you could have sex again?" Isaac asked, garnering Stiles' attention from the box next to him. 

"Not until I'm off bedrest.. so like another three weeks?" Stiles tossed a few pictures back into the box and stared blankly at Isaac. Isaac still infuriated Stiles' sometimes but he had grown quite close to him in the past year since he returned from France and began at Berkeley with the rest of them. Besides Scott, Isaac was the werewolf in the group that Stiles trusted the most.

"Sucks." Isaac retorted, telling Stiles what he already knew. "How's Cat taking it?" 

"She's fine. I don't even think she's thinking about it. She has definitely been treating me with kid gloves lately. I think the whole attack really flipped her out." Stiles admitted. 

"Have you told her that you think that she's treating you like a fragile little pansy?" Isaac said with a smirk. 

Stiles narrowed his eyes at Isaac and shook his head. "No... I don't know. I guess now that I'm out of the hospital I'll say something."

"You should. She probably doesn't even know she's doing it." Cora interjected, startling Stiles and causing him to throw his hand up in the air. 

"HOW LONG WERE YOU LISTENING?!" Stiles shouted. 

"Pretty much the whole time. You know I bet that she could still give you a blo-" Cora got cut off. 

"OKAY. Alright, can we get off the topic of Cat and I and move back to what's in the box?" Stiles rubbed his pointer finger into his eye in frustration. 

"Have you found anything?" Isaac asked, pulling at the shirt that Cora decided to throw on of his. Cora swatted his hand away and sat back in the chair beside him. 

"This box is crap. I know that there has to be so much more in evidence lock up at the station and I can't sit here and wait for my Dad to bring me a new box of more crap every day." Stiles said, trying to mask the undertone of irritation. 

"What are you even looking for anyway?" Cora asked. 

"Malia said that this guy wrote her like a dozen hand written letters and notes, so obviously this guy isn't going to keep a whole hell of a lot on his computer. I think he probably kept a journal or... actually, even his History of Mesopotamia notebook would be great. If I could compare what Cat's notes look like versus what his look like, or if he wrote anything extra. I don't know. I need something... none of which is in this box." Stiles tried to hide the look on his face that showed that the wheels had started rolling in his head. 

"Okay, well I can stop by the station later and see if I can get another box of stuff from your Dad and bring it back over." Isaac offered. 

"Nah.. no man, it's okay, he'll bring another tomorrow morning anyway." Stiles faked a yawn and stretched his arms above him. "You know, listen guys, I'm actually really tired all the sudden. It just hits me nowadays, you know? I think I'm gonna take a nap, you guys can just take off. Get lunch, enjoy a nice summer day, whatever. Cat will be over at four to make me dinner so...." Stiles sank into the couch cushions and faked a yawn again. 

"Alright, I'll see you later." Isaac said as he got up. Cora waved goodbye and followed Isaac out the door.

"Can we go back to my place so I can change into my own clothes first?" Cora asked as she closed the front door behind her. 

Stiles heard the engine turn over on Cora's car outside and he peeked through the blinds. He watched as the drove away and he ripped the blanket that was covering him off and onto the floor. He grabbed his small notepad off the coffee table, next to the evidence box, and scribbled a note onto it. _"Cat, went to the evidence locker at the station. meet me there."_ He took his one crutch off of the arm of the couch and walked over to his backpack. He pulled his keys out of the front pocket and shoved them into the pocket of his gray sweatpants. Stiles threw his phone and notebook and Gatorade into his backpack, locked the door, and got into his Jeep.

When he pulled up to the Sheriff's station, he checked to see if his Dad's patrol car was gone. It was. Stiles pulled one of his many cloned keycards for the service entrance, and slipped into the station unseen. He punched in the code for the evidence lock up and got to work, throwing his backpack on the floor and resting his crutch against a shelf. 

"Shit.. that was maybe a little too heavy..." He grunted to himself as he pulled another box labeled "S. WIRTHS" from a shelf. "Ugh... and I get no service in here. Cool." Stiles continued talking to himself as he sat on the floor surrounded by the boxes of evidence. 

* * *

 

Cat pulled her white Toyota C-HR into Scott's driveway and realized that she had pulled in where Stiles' Jeep should've been. She walked up to the house and used her key to get into the front door. 

"Stiles? Stiles, your Jeep isn't out front... Did your Dad come by or Isaac take it or something?" Her shouts were met with silence. "Stiles?" Cat's heart rate suddenly began to rise.

She noticed that his crutches and backpack were missing as she tore through every room in the house looking for him. "Fuck." Cat got back into her car and dialed Isaac's number. " _Isaac, are you with Stiles?....... He's not taking a nap and his Jeep is gone...... What do you mean you and Cora left him, aren't you two supposed to be able to tell when he's lying? I have to call Scott. Yea, bye._ "

She pulled out of the driveway and began driving to Stiles' house, hoping that his Jeep would be in the driveway. She called Stiles' number first, only to get his voicemail, then she called Scott. " _Hey, Stiles wasn't at your house and Isaac doesn't know where he is. His Jeep is missing and I am officially freaking out. Is he with you?...... Okay, I'm headed over to his house right now to see if he's there instead. Call me if you hear from him..... yea, he's my next call if his Jeep isn't there.... Yea, bye._ " She pulled up to Stiles' house and didn't see the Jeep.

She threw her car in park and began typing voraciously into the Pack group message.  _"Has anyone heard from Stiles today? He's not at Scott's or his house, his Jeep, backpack, and crutches are gone, and he's not answering his phone."_ She waited for the responses. All "no"'s came rolling in. "Shit." She said quietly to herself, as she closed the texts and opened her phone app. She pressed Sheriff Stilinski's number and waited for him to pick up. " _Hey Sheriff, have you heard from Stiles today?....... Okay, I think he's missing."_ She explained all that was wrong again and Sheriff Stilinski told her to go to into his house and wait to see if he'd show up.

Hours passed by and Scott knocked on the door to Stiles' house. It was nearing dark and everyone was out looking for the young Stilinski. He opened the door and saw Cat pacing the floor and staring at Stiles' murder board.

"Hey, you okay?" Scott asked her, pausing in the doorway to the living room. 

"Yea, I just.. I'm really worried. Have any of you caught his scent?" She asked the Alpha.

"Isaac, Cora, Malia, Liam, Hayden, Derek and Ethan are all out looking for him. One of us will find him. I thought you could use a friend though." Scott explained as he stood in front of the murder board with her. 

"What's that box?" Cat nodded her head towards the box that Scott had left in the doorway. 

"Oh, Isaac said it was an evidence box that the Sheriff brought for Stiles to sift through. It's all Sam's stuff, but there isn't much in here that's helpful." Scott said, as he grabbed the box and set it on the coffee table in front of him and Cat instead. 

"You're right... there's really nothing in here that's useful.." Cat echoed Scott's sentiments. 

"Holy shit... I think I know where Stiles is." Scott had a eureka moment, grabbed Cat's arm and the evidence box and they flew out the door. 

* * *

 

Cat pulled her car around the back service alley behind the Sheriff's station and saw Stiles' Jeep parked. They rushed around the front entrance and burst through the check-in lobby. Deputy Clarke ran after them as they headed to the evidence locker. The station was empty since everyone was out looking for Stiles. 

"Open it, hurry!" Scott urged Deputy Clarke as she fumbled with the buttons on the keypad.

Scott opened the door and Cat ran through. She immediately saw Stiles' crutch propped up against a shelf and when she turned a corner she saw him, surrounded by papers and boxes and items from Sam's house. Stiles looked up and smiled. He was holding his good hand against his side and made no effort to get up.

"Hey guys." Stiles said nonchalantly.

"I'm gonna kill you, Stiles." Scott announced as he saw his best friend on the floor. "He's here, Clarke, call his Dad and tell him we found him."

"Stiles, what the fuck. We've all been driving around, frantic, because you were missing. Why didn't you text anyone and tell them you were coming here?" Cat asked as she dropped to her knees to sit next to Stiles. 

"If I texted you that I was coming here, someone would've stopped me, by leaving you a note on the coffee table, I had a few hours to sift through Sam's stuff, and I found the jackpot, you guys." Stiles explained. 

"What note?" Cat questioned him, annoyed.

"I left you a note on the coffee table telling you to meet me here after you got out of the Mayor's office." Stiles' comment was met with bewildered, silent looks. He reached for his backpack and grabbed his notepad. "Oh... I never tore it out and left it. I'm so sorry, Cat. I didn't mean to scare you guys."

"Your Dad is going to flip out on you." Scott reminded Stiles, as he pushed a box over with his foot, making room for him to sit on the floor with his friends. "No one bothered to look here because Clarke is the only one here. Everyone else is out looking for you."

"Well, that's really just poor police work on their part. I feel like you all should've known if I wasn't at your place, or your place, or my place, I'd be here." Stiles made a valid point. 

Scott nodded slightly, and moved on, glancing into the boxes around him. "You said you found something?" Scott asked. 

"No, hold on, why are you holding your side? What'd you do?" Cat pulled Stiles' hand from under his hoodie and revealed that blood had soaked through his t-shirt. "Oh my god, Stiles! What happened?"

"I think I may have popped a stitch when I was pulling boxes down but I'm fine." Stiles explained.

"You're not fine, man. You're really bleeding. Come on.." Scott helped Stiles to his feet. "Let's get to the hospital and have my mom check you out."

"Fine, but Cat, put those two books and those papers in my backpack and bring them with us." Stiles insisted, holding onto a brace on a shelf, refusing to leave until she obliged. 

* * *

 

Scott and Cat and Melissa sat in the small seating area outside of Stiles' room, listening to the Sheriff berate his son over the scare he gave everyone and the wasted resources that he used just to be found at the station, looking at confidential information. 

"So what is all of that?" Scott asked, trying to ignore the scene that the Sheriff was making in the exam room. 

"Stiles really did find something..." She flipped through the stapled papers, scanning the document quickly. "So we wrote three papers for our Ancient Mesopotamia class, and the final essay was a ten page research paper on the topic of our choosing. He gave us like a month and a half to work on them so that we could get a good amount of research done before submitting them." 

"So is that his final paper?" Scott asked, leaning over Cat's shoulder to look at the title on the first page. 

"Yea, it is, and he basically wrote it on the rabisu." She answered, not realizing that the yelling had ceased.

"Not only that, but I read through his notebook and his journal and it's basically a timeline of Sam learning about Malia and the Pack, getting spurned by her.. repeatedly.. working on his paper and doing all the research from old books from the university library, figuring out how to summon them, moving out of his apartment, getting rejected and told off by Malia one last time, and deciding to get his revenge on the supernatural community of Beacon Hills, and of course, Malia." Stiles came out on his crutches and interrupted Scott and Cat's conversation. "This kid was insane. He knew that the rabisu could turn on him and he didn't care. He thought that he could summon them and control them solely because he did a lot of research on them. He was trying to kill all of you because we wouldn't let him into the Pack. He basically got exactly what he deserved." 

"He belonged in Eichen House, not in the morgue." Scott reminded Stiles of the Pack's code of ethics. 

Stiles rolled his eyes. "You don't even know, Scott. He followed you around for weeks. He wrote in his journal that he figured out that vampires were the ones attacking people in Beacon Hills, so he followed one, hoping it would turn him so that he could become a part of that Pack!" Stiles was speaking a little too loudly to be out in public, talking about the supernatural. 

"ENOUGH! Enough! I'm done with this crap for tonight." Sheriff Stilinski was exhausted and frustrated with his son. "Cat, can you drive Stiles and Scott back to the McCall's please? Stiles' Jeep will be in impound until he gets the okay to drive again from the doctors AND me." Cat nodded and put all of Sam's stuff back in Stiles' backpack, and the three of them walked out to her car.


	33. The Reconnect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles and Cat get into a fight, but make up in a dirty way. This is just a smutty, smutty, masturbate-y chapter.

> _Scott was hesitant to leave the car and walk in alone because it was so dark out that he was worried that they would get hurt trying to get back into Scott's house, but he also could not sit around and listen to them have their first argument with him stuck in the back seat. Isaac opened the door from the inside and Scott ran into the house without any issue, closing the door behind him. Cat and Stiles sat in the front seats of her car, the engine turned off and the windows barely cracked, not speaking._
> 
> _"I can't believe you just flipped out on me like that..." Cat finally broke the silence, looking over in Stiles' direction._
> 
> _"I'm just so sick of you treating me like you're my mother and like I need to be monitored!" Stiles raised his voice again. "I just want my girlfriend back. I want the girl who wants to have sex with me, go camping with me or on long night drives to the coast, or who wants to surprise me by buying Met's tickets when we're in New York because she knows how happy that will make me. I don't want this person who text's my Dad more than me and is only concerned with my bandages and how my wrist is healing."_
> 
> _"Do you think I want to be so concerned with your medical dressings, or that I am not going out of my fucking mind over the fact that I got to spend my summer with my boyfriend after all, yet we don't get to have sex, or we might not get to go camping in Yosemite next month or fly home to New York to show you off to my friends and take you around my city? I DON'T WANT TO BE YOUR MOTHER, STILES." She yelled back at him. "But you aren't taking care of yourself. You're pushing yourself too quickly. You literally popped three stitches in your abdomen today because you disappeared to the Sheriff's station, where you then couldn't get off the floor by yourself. I don't want to parent you, but you're also not taking what happened to you seriously."_
> 
> _"You think I'm not taking my recovery seriously?" Stiles asked with attitude._
> 
> _"Are you?! Because I haven't seen that and it terrifies me. This whole thing has scared the shit out of me, Stiles. I have been overly vigilant because I am so afraid of losing you." She admitted, the heat rising to her face as tears burned down her cheeks._
> 
> _"I am taking it seriously. I know what happened was bad" Stiles calmed down when he saw that he had caused her to cry. "I am just.. so frustrated. This horrible thing is happening to my hometown and all my friends are out trying to do something about it and I am trapped on Scott's couch, just waiting to hear the latest update. I hate not being able to help." Stiles pushed his fist into his thigh. His frustration was palpable. He took a deep breath and looked up at his girlfriend, looking forward and wiping the tears from under her eyes with her delicate fingers. "Do you remember what one of the first things I ever said to you was?"_
> 
> _Cat paused, then looked at Stiles with her eyebrows arched in confusion. "Put down my bat, it's a collectors item?"_
> 
> _Stiles couldn't help but grin. He snickered quietly and shook his head. "No, after I told you to put down my bat, I told you that my role in the Pack was that I was the man with the plan. I was always the one with the plan, always the one to figure out what the best move was." Stiles shook his head again and sighed. "I hate feeling useless or like I'm not pulling my weight in the Pack, and that's how I feel right now, and you not being normal around me, which I get is probably hard right now since this is not a normal situation right now, just makes it harder." Stiles admitted, rubbing his hand into his knee._
> 
> _Cat reached over and placed her hand on top of his. He wrapped his long fingers around hers. "I know you're the man with the plan. I don't know how Scott and them survive without you."_
> 
> _"That's what I always say." Stiles interrupted her._
> 
> _She laughed gently and continued. "More and more recently, I have been getting the feeling that this is not a fight that can be won by Scott and the rest of the werewolves, I have a feeling that this is going to come down to me and my magic, and whatever that entails, I know I'm going to need your help. You are still going to be crucial in cracking all of this. I know it.... and then when we kill these assholes, I'm going tell the doctors what you did, and they will have no choice but to let us have sex again."_
> 
> _Stiles laughed and leaned over the middle console of her car, wrapping his hand around the back of her neck, and pulling her towards him for a hard, lingering kiss. He broke free and caressed her cheek with his thumb. "I'm sorry... this whole thing has just been..."_
> 
> _"It's okay. I know." She smiled a bit at him. "Wanna go inside now?" She asked, taking her keys out of the ignition and holding up her lamassu keychain._
> 
> _"Scott, can you open the door?" Stiles said in a moderate tone, knowing that the two werewolves had heard that entire argument._
> 
> _Scott opened the door and Cat helped to rush Stiles back inside._

* * *

It was three in the morning and Stiles had been asleep for hours. Isaac had snuck out to see Cora around two hours before, and Cat was sitting in one of the small armchairs opposite the pull-out couch in the McCall's living room, working on her computer. 

"What're you doing?" Cat heard Stiles' raspy, sleep voice from behind the bright light emanating off of her laptop. She closed the top slightly, placed it on the end of the bed and tried to adjust her eyes to the darkness.

"Did I wake you? I was trying not to.." She asked, staring in Stiles' general direction.

"No, no, I wanted to turn over and it kind of hurt..." Stiles gestured to his stomach. " You didn't wake me.... What are you doing though? Why are you still awake?" He asked, shifting to sit up.

Cat got up from the chair and sat next to Stiles on the bed, sitting on the backs of her feet as she kneeled next to him, causing the mattress to sink slightly under the concentrated weight. "I asked Lydia the other night if she could hack into the Berkeley library database, and she did, and she got the list of books that Sam had checked out for his research paper. She emailed the list to me right after you fell asleep, so I was on Amazon ordering the books." She gestured back to her computer.

"How many were there?" Stiles asked, rubbing his fingers against her thigh, accidentally scraping her soft skin with his cast. 

"Six... It's going to be a lot of reading for us when they get here tomorrow. I thought I'd call in sick and you and I could sit here and try to solve this bullshit finally." He saw her smile slightly from the soft glow coming off of her computer by his feet.

"I'd like that a lot.." He smiled back at her, reaching his quickly healing right hand around his body to grip her neck, and pull her in for a kiss. He winced as he extended himself too far, twisting his abdomen in a way that was painful.

"Are you okay?" She asked, pulling the sheets down from his body, and dipping her hands under his shirt to press against his stomach and make sure nothing was bleeding. 

Stiles became annoyed. This was exactly what they had argued about earlier that night. She was back to being his nurse or his mother and he was sick of it. "I'm fine." He said brusquely, pulling her hands off of his body by her wrists.

"I'm only asking because if you were in pain... maybe I could do something about it..." She leaned forward, her wrists still pressed together tightly in his big hand, and pressed her lips against his.

She knew he was right. Just because he had been hurt, didn't mean she couldn't touch him at all, but she had been avoiding him, even kisses, since the attack. She didn't even realize she was doing it until they had gotten into the fight in the car earlier that evening. She tugged on his lower lip with her teeth, pulling it away from his top lip. He gripped her wrists tighter. He had a lot of pent up aggression and energy and sexual tension and she was being particularly teasing. She tilted her head to the side slightly and kept kissing him hard against his lips. He moaned softly against her mouth and released his grip on her wrists. 

She cocked her head to the side and grinned, grabbing his good hand and guiding it up under her shirt, helping it to make contact with her breast. He squeezed hard, feeling the supple and warm flesh fill up his fingers. "Just because we can't have sex, doesn't mean we can't do nothing at all..." She whispered.

She bit the tiniest part of her lower lip as she smiled at him. He moved his hand from her breast to her waist, pulling her back towards him for a kiss. The fingers on his broken hand pressed into her legs, still folded underneath her. She kissed hard against his lips, but he got distracted as he felt her hand suddenly move from his sternum to the waistband of his basketball shorts. He wasn't wearing anything underneath them that night, and he felt the palm of her hand brush against the hair on his happy trail. He stopped kissing her and watched her hand wiggle its way under the elastic of his shorts, making its way towards his semi-erect penis. His breathing got heavy and he dropped his good hand to his side. She rubbed her flat hand against the length of his growing cock, watching the outline of her hand moving under the mesh material of his shorts. 

Stiles shut his eyes and relished in the feeling of the girl he loved touching him again. He felt his already hard dick twitch against her hand. He opened his eyes and saw her licking her lips, literally salivating over his cock. She pulled down his shorts, leaning over his body as he ran his fingers over her ass, and spit onto the head of his cock. She locked her fingers around the tip, moving the lubricant down his veiny shaft. She went to lick the tip of her tongue from the base of the side of his shaft to the top, but he stopped her midway through. 

"No.. just.. come here." He wrapped his fingers around the bottom of her bicep and pulled her up against his the side of his chest so that she was resting against him with his bad arm draped over her. 

"Do you not want me to...? Did it hurt?" She asked, hesitantly.

"No.. I just want to ease back into it." He explained as he reached his good hand back around, picking up her left hand and bringing it back under his basketball shorts. 

He left his hand over hers for a moment, lazily helping her jerk off his length. Then he lifted his ass slightly, wincing at the effort it took to simply pull his shorts off enough so he could see her small hand try to wrap itself around his thick manhood. She waited a moment, hearing him wince, until he nodded at her, urging her to continue. She licked her hand and placed it back over the head, trying to connect her fingers as she pushed her way down to the base of his girth. He moaned slightly as her wrist moved in a circular pattern, at a steady pace. He watched her face, her mouth open, breathing barely audible, making eye contact with him as she continued stroking him off. He was so turned on. He liked that she was watching him, trying to read what he was enjoying from his expressions. He also liked that they weren't kissing or speaking, just staring and breathing. It was all about pleasing him and it was kind of dirty. They had never done anything like this before and he was enjoying her kinkier side.

She picked up her pace a bit, as she watched him lick his lips. Her grip got a little tighter as she felt his cock twitch slightly. She knew what was coming, and she wondered if he would direct her on how to take his load. She just wanted to please him. He moaned a little loudly, and then yelped, reaching his good hand down to her hand to stop her. 

"Oh my god.." Her eyes widened and she sat up straight, her hand still hovering over his cock, as his hand went to his stomach. 

"I'm okay.. I'm okay. We need to stop though." 

"Why? What just happened?" She asked, checking to see if he had cum and she didn't notice. 

Stiles smiled slightly. "I didn't come early.. I was feeling it and it was fine but I guess my stomach and abs tighten when I'm about to shoot one off and it still hurts way too much to be tightening those muscles like that..."

"Oh..." She said, not sure of what else to say, trying not to come off as disappointed as she was that she couldn't please him.

"It felt amazing, don't get me wrong... I just don't know if we can do me until the stitches actually come out next week and the Doc gives me the okay." Stiles admitted, the disappointment filling his voice. "Maybe we could still do you though?" Stiles smirked devilishly, his entire demeanor reverting back to what it was moments before.

Cat cocked her head to the side and smiled, biting her lip and narrowing her eyes at him. "That wouldn't torture you more?"

"Nah.. I've never really gotten to watch you... take care of yourself before.." Stiles' eyes wandered down her body. "Are you wet?" He asked aloud. Cat nodded. She was kneeling next him again and he reached his fingers on his right, casted hand, in between her legs, parting them, to brush them against the outside of Cat's white, cotton panties. She inhaled deep as his fingers grazed her engorged clit. "Open the curtains a little, just enough light for me to watch you." Stiles directed her, then watched her lean over him and pull the curtain back slightly, allowing the light from the front door to cast a yellowish haze across the living room. "Put your computer on the chair and put the pillow down at the other end of the bed." Cat did as she was told, walking on her tip-toes as not to wake Scott upstairs. 

She turned around. "Isaac isn't here.." She whispered, remembering him sneaking out hours before. 

"Did you want him to be?" Stiles asked snarkily, wondering why she was thinking about the handsome blonde werewolf at that moment. 

"No, asshole, I just don't want him walking in on us..." She clarified. 

"Don't worry about it, I'll keep an ear out for him." He reassured her. "Now drop your panties." He demanded. Cat bit her lip and smiled. This was the sexiest she had ever found Stiles, in command and dominating. "Turn around... bend over.." Cat did as she was told, and Stiles salivated over the pink lips that peeked out between her legs. "Lay down..." Stiles shifted in bed, his shorts still slightly pulled down, and he sat up straighter. Cat crawled gracefully onto the bed and laid next to Stiles. She stared at him, occasionally breaking eye contact when she would get too bashful. "Are you still wet?" Stiles asked, with a low husky tone. 

She spread her legs for him, and he grabbed onto her ankle with his bad hand. "Yes." Her nails were naturally long and pointy, and well taken care of, making her long fingers that much more enticing. She dragged them along her opening, her fingers becoming slick. 

"Pull your lips apart for me.." Stiles directed. She did as he asked and separated her lips, showing a pink and wet cunt. Stiles scraped his teeth over his bottom lip. "Take your middle and pointer finger on your right hand, get them wet, and rub your clit slowly.. just up and down..." She did as he said, staring into his dark, chocolate eyes as she massaged her clit. "I didn't tell you to do circular motions, did I, Cat?" He heckled her in a commanding tone. She shook her head, smirking slightly over her defiance. "Stick your fingers in your pussy." She did as she was told. "Are you tight?" He asked. She nodded, licking her lips and breathing heavily. "Come over here.. now." He demanded, pointing to the other side of the bed. 

She walked over to the other side of the bed and stood in front of him. "Tell me what to do, Stiles." She all but begged. 

"Turn around and bend over again. I want to see if you are as tight as you claim." She grinned, desperately wanting to feel him inside of her, and bent over. Her tit popped out of her tank top as she touched her toes with her fingertips. He took a handful of her ass in his good hand and squeezed hard. She yelped quietly. He slapped his hand hard against her plump ass, a smack echoing through the house that he hoped did not wake up his best friend upstairs, and she moaned. "You are such a dirty little slut. You like it when I spank you?" He asked, his arousal taking over his body. 

"Yes..." She whispered breathlessly. 

Stiles rubbed his tongue against his top left canine and smirked, raising his eyebrows quickly, pleased with how well this was going and how turned on they both were. He grabbed a handful of her ass again, then slipped two of his fingers into her neatly waxed, pink, wet cunt. Her tight walls resisted against his fingers entrance into her, but he forced them in. He pressed down, hitting her g-spot. "God fucking damnit, I want to just.... break you." Stiles whispered to her. "Come back over here, I need you to make yourself cum." He insisted. She walked back to her spot and laid down next to him again. "Cum for me." He whispered. 

She wet her fingers with her own juices again and began rubbing hard and vigorously against her throbbing clit. "Mmmm.. oh Stiles..." She moaned, intoxicated by his presence and participation in their lust-filled game. Her teeth drew a faint amount of blood as she bit her lip hard in anticipation of the orgasm she knew was imminent. Stiles breathed heavily, watching her shut her eyes, arch her back, and quicken her pace. Her fingers were a blur of flesh over her clit. He listened to her trying to stifle her moans, as he ran his fingers up and down her shin. She gave him no warning before her body began convulsing with pleasure. Her fingers slowed but remained pressed firmly against her pussy. 

"Oh that's it, baby.. let it out." Stiles spoke quietly. He felt her legs shaking even after the orgasm ceased. He let out a sigh of relief. He was hornier than ever but knew that there was nothing he could do about himself. He was glad she was taken care of though. He looked down at her, knuckles still white while gripping the sheets underneath her, cum slowly slipping down her ass cheek between her tightly closed legs, and her turned on her side, trying to control her shakes. "Are you okay?" He asked, craning his neck to try to look at her. 

"Mhmm.." She exhaled. 

"Was that too much?" He asked, self doubt and consciousness creeping in. "Was that weird..?" 

Cat sat up, her legs still shaking with some force, and looked at Stiles. "That was not too much, and it was not weird.. at least not for me."

"It wasn't for me either." 

"It was actually incredibly sexy seeing you know exactly what you wanted and being a little gruff and forceful with me. I wouldn't mind seeing that side of you more often.." She admitted, flopping her body beside his and rubbing his chest under his shirt. She just wanted to touch him at that point. She was satisfied but so turned on by how manly and sexy her boyfriend was. 

"You think I was sexy? Pshh. I've never seen anything more insanely.... mmmmf." Stiles balled his fist, not finding the words to explain. "Nothing sexier than you touching yourself or really watching you orgasm. Holy shit...." 

"I wish I could help you.." She lamented, staring at his very erect cock.

"I'll live. It'll be good build up for when I finally get to be inside of you again." Stiles smiled and kissed her on the lips. "Go clean up, I'll put our friend away and we can go to sleep before Scott comes down wondering what all this noise has been." Stiles watched her walk back in with new pajamas on. She closed the curtain over the couch, letting the living room fall into darkness again, and curled up next to Stiles. He fell asleep holding her hand. 

 


	34. The Corporeal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cora and Isaac have a run in with the rabisu.

Stiles had been awake for about twenty minutes. He had been watching Cat sleeping next to him. She slept on her side, facing him, her hands folded together like she was praying, pressed up against her chin. He brushed the back of his finger lightly against the smattering of freckles that fell across her face. He loved how peaceful she looked when she slept.

He was not a great sleeper anymore. Between the things that he did as the nogitsune, the journey with the Ghost Riders, being brutally attacked by the rabisu, and all of the other horrifying things he had experienced in between, nightmares happened too often and too vividly for Stiles to get more than three good night's sleep in a row. It used to be every other night before he started dating Cat - she brought him a sense of security and good feelings before he shut his eyes each night. The day was beginning to break in Beacon Hills and Stiles was adjusting to go back to sleep until a little bit later in the morning, when Isaac burst through the door. Cat shot up in bed at the noise, and looked over at the front door to see Isaac carrying Cora through the threshold. 

"What happened?!" Stiles said loudly, alarmed, trying to sit up in bed.

Cat got up and helped Isaac lay Cora down where she had just been on the pull-out couch next to Stiles. "Deaton wasn't answering his phone and I wasn't sure if Melissa was at the hospital tonight and I was just afraid to get out of the car with her again." Isaac explained, his eyes widened as he stared at his unconscious girlfriend and then down at his hands, covered in her blood. 

"SCOTT!" Stiles yelled from the bed. "SCOTT!"

Cat walked around to the other side of the bed and helped Stiles get up and move to a chair, giving Cora the whole bed. "What happened, Isaac?" She asked, repeating Stiles' question as Isaac slumped next to the bed. 

"What is going on?" Scott rubbed his eye as he jogged into the living room, his hair matted on one side and his boxers riding up one leg. 

Cat ran into the linen closet on the first floor and grabbed clean dish towels. She ran one under the cold water that came out of the bathroom sink, and ran back into the living room. "Scott..." She threw two of the dry towels at Scott, and nodded over to Cora. Then Cat walked over to Isaac, taking his hands in hers, and wiped the blood off onto the wet towel. She was trying to calm him the best way she could. "Isaac.... what happened?" She looked up at him as she gently pressed the damp towel against his palms, staining the towel red.

"I went out last night and I just wanted to see her... She came to pick me up and we drove up to the Preserve to kind of run around and let loose and fool around in the car... and then we were driving back to her place and we saw some teenager smoking weed on his front porch and he must have noticed the paint by his door, because he was picking at it and as soon as he had picked enough of the paint off and the lamassu couldn't deter them anymore... the rabisu, like three of them, came out of no where. They just fucking materialized, Cat." Isaac had barely blinked. He sat staring at Cora as he told the story. 

"Then what happened, Isaac?" Scott asked as he applied pressure with the dry dish towels to Cora's wounds, trying to get the bleeding to stop. 

"Cora and I had stopped and were watching and when the rabisu came out and attacked the kid, we jumped out of the car. They had already torn the kid to shreds..." 

"He's dead?" Stiles asked, alarmed.

"He's dead... We weren't fast enough and there were so many of them and.... Cora and I got some good licks in but they cut up Cora pretty badly and I barely dragged her away from them. I managed to get back to the car, grabbed the salt in the trunk, threw it at them and they disappeared but... it was horrific." Isaac collapsed onto Cat's shoulder, and cried.

Cat wrapped her arms around her friend and rubbed his back. She felt something drip off her fingers. She raised her hand and saw red blood smeared all over her hand. "Isaac, oh my god." She leaned over and looked at Isaac's back. It had been torn at by the claws of a rabisu, and he had large bite marks on his side. "Scott, help me." They carried Isaac to the couch and laid him next to Cora. 

"I was too afraid to bring her anywhere because I was afraid that they could still get to us in the dark... Now I'm afraid she's dead." Isaac stared at his girlfriend laying next to him.

"No, she's alive." Scott leaned over and heard Cora breathing, shallow but there.

Stiles had limped over to the linen closet and grabbed the rest of the towels, bringing them into the living room. "Scott, you have to trigger the healing process or else they're both gonna die." Stiles insisted. 

Scott nodded and went for Cora first. Her right arm was hanging on by visible strands of her tendons as the rabisu had attempted to rip her limb from limb. She had deep gashes all over her face and chest and neck. She had the same defensive wounds on her arms and hands that Stiles had ended up with. There was blood coming from her skull, but her long, thick black hair was matted and he couldn't see what had happened there. Scott looked at Stiles. "Call Derek.. and Deaton... and my mom, just call everyone." Stiles nodded and then cringed as he watched his Alpha prepare to break Cora's collarbone to set it back into place. The pain from that alone would trigger the healing process. Cora growled loudly and painfully as Scott attempted to mend her. 

Cat took Scott's place as he moved on to Isaac, breaking his wrists to trigger his healing. Cat pressed the towels hard against Cora's skull and throat, trying to keep her from bleeding out before she could heal completely. "It's okay, Corr.. it's going to be okay. You're okay." She whispered, glancing at her own hands, covered in the couple's blood. Isaac screamed and howled as Scott triggered his healing, kicking his foot against the bed and breaking the leg the bed was standing on, slumping it to the ground. 

Isaac's wounds were less significant than Cora's and he was up on his feet quicker. They all sat around watching as Deaton and Melissa hovered over Cora, stitching up her wounds to further jumpstart her healing. Derek sat on the edge of the bed, holding his little sister's hand. Scott, Isaac, Stiles and Cat sat around the table in Scott's dining room watching the scene but trying to stay out of the way. 

"Derek is going to kill me." Isaac whispered, staring at the Hale siblings. "If I had just told Cora that I'd see her in the morning instead of letting her convince me to sneak out, none of this would have happened." 

"It'll be okay, man. She's already getting better." Scott comforted his friend, then turned his attention when he heard Stiles' phone vibrate on the table. "Stiles, did your Dad find the body?" 

"Yea, Isaac was right, the kid was dead." He pushed the button on the top of his phone, clicking it off and facing it down on the table. 

"We have got to figure out how to stop these things." Cat said, holding her mug of coffee and noticing that she hadn't gotten all of the blood off her hands.

The doorbell rang and Melissa yelled for Scott to get it from the other room. Scott came back a couple of minutes later with a large box in his hands. He placed it on the table, forced a claw out of his finger and cut the tape, opening the box. Cat and Isaac stood and helped Scott pull the books out of the box. He tossed the box to the corner of the room and stared at the stack of six books. Cat came back into the room with her backpack, opened a small pocket and dropped several highlighters on the table. 

"Time to start reading.." She looked around at the boys, grabbed a book and a highlighter and sat down at the table. Each guy followed her lead and dug into the books that she had ordered based on what Sam Wirths, the kid who had summoned the rabisu to Beacon Hills to kill them all, had used for his research. Stiles fidgeted and finally closed the book loudly enough to garner their attention.

"You okay, man?" Scott asked.

"I... I'm thinking about something Isaac said earlier." Isaac looked up at him with worry. "You said that you and Cora got some 'good licks' in... meaning you hit the rabisu, right?" 

"Yea, but only sometimes. Other times my claws went through them like they were air."

"My dad shot at one and said the bullets went through it like it was made of air too." Stiles brow was furrowed.

"They're spirits, they're not made of like flesh and bone.." Cat reminded them.

"Right, so how did Isaac and Cora manage to hit them?" Stiles questioned, letting everyone else in on what had been bothering him.

"Isaac, tell us exactly what you remember from fighting them." Scott demanded.

Isaac closed the book in front of him and rubbed his shoulder. "Uh, one had grabbed Cora by the neck and had it's claws plunged into her and so I clawed back and it shrieked and dropped her. Then one came up behind me and ripped at my back. I dropped to my knees and saw Cora get slashed, but she grabbed its wrist or whatever and she hit it. It shook her loose and she tried to claw at it again, but her hand went right through the robes and ended up leaving marks on the stones of the house behind it.... and I don't know, guys, it happened fast. I had managed to get off the porch and ran to the car, grabbed the salt and sprayed it at them but they had really fucked up Cora at that point."

"So you just left my sister to die?" Derek said, listening from behind Isaac, as Isaac's back was turned to the living room. Isaac turned to see Derek approaching fast. "What the hell is wrong with you, Lahey?" Derek grabbed Isaac by the throat and pushed him against the floor. Everyone jumped to their feet, Scott and Deaton tried to pull the two werewolves apart, yelling and commotion filled the house. 

"STOP!" Stiles yelled, causing everyone to pause and look up at the young, injured man slowly standing up from the table. Cat rushed over to help him. "Isaac didn't abandon her, he saved her, and I think he also may have figured out a weakness." Stiles commanded everyone in the room's attention. 

"What are you talking about, Stiles?" Scott asked as he physically restrained Derek, keeping him away from Isaac.

"The times when Isaac and Cora were able to hurt or touch the rabisu were the time when the rabisu were already touching them."

"Maybe the rabisu need to become momentarily corporeal in order to inflict damage." Deaton pondered, understanding where Stiles was going with his train of thought.

"Exactly." Stiles nodded and sat back down in the chair.

"Which could work to our advantage if we need to fight them." Scott realized aloud. 

"Yes, Scott, but I still think that this is going to come down to a spell that will have to be recited by Cat in order to rid the town of them for good." Deaton shifted his focus to the beautiful but scared young woman standing with her hands gripped around the back of Stiles' chair. Cat felt sick to her stomach as the eyes of everyone in the room fell onto her.


	35. The Twenty Dead Goats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Pack figures out how Sam summoned the rabisu to Beacon Hills and Stiles finds a lead on a way to get rid of them.

Scott and Isaac had moved Stiles back into the Stilinski house after Isaac had accidentally broken Scott's pull-out bed in his living room. Cat was throwing Stiles' pillows onto the pull-out couch in Stiles' own living room while Scott helped Stiles up the stairs to the bathtub on the second floor. Cat heard the water turning on, the door closing and Scott coming back down to the first floor. She had settled into a chair in the dining room and had pulled the book that she was reading at Scott's out of her backpack, scattering the highlighters on the table for everyone else to use again. Lydia and Allison walked through the front door and tried to talk to Isaac who barely looked up from his phone. Derek had taken Cora back to their apartment building and Scott advised Isaac to leave them alone for the rest of the day, to allow Derek some time to cool off. Liam and Zachary, the vampire that they had saved in Berkeley, who they were trying to reintegrate back into society on an animal blood diet, walked through the door shortly after Lydia and Allison. Everyone had come over to help look through the books that Cat had ordered and help further solve this puzzle. 

"Yo, Scotty." Stiles shouted from upstairs, the creaking of faucets being turned off in the shower following his voice.

Scott ran upstairs to help Stiles out of the tub. A few minutes later, with Stiles' arm draped over his best friend's shoulder, the two young men limped down the stairs. Stiles was clothed in a gray pullover sweatshirt, khakis and his long, wet hair and stubble. He hadn't been able to get it cut in a while and it fell shaggy around his face. Cat had told him that she liked the gritty look on him. She looked up as Stiles smoothed his wet mane back with his hand and placed his favorite black fitted Mets cap over his head. He limped his way through the living room. Liam and Zachary bumped his fist and then approached Scott to talk to their Alpha. 

He set his eyes on Cat sitting at the table. She had her face buried in the book in front of her, and she scratched at her scalp as she read, an adorable tick that came out when she was having trouble focusing. She heard the floor board creak and looked up at him, leaning against the doorframe of the dining room, smiling at her. She smiled and leaned back into her seat.

"Oh you actually got dressed for once." Lydia commented snarkily from the table as Stiles walked to sit in the empty seat next to his girlfriend. 

Stiles ignored Lydia and eased into the chair. Cat leaned over, running her hand along his thigh. "You know, as much as I love seeing you finally looking like you again, it's going to be a real pain in the ass to get you out of all of these clothes later." She smirked.

Stiles adjusted his baseball hat and smiled back at her. "I think you'll find a way to get me undressed." His smile turning into a devilish grin. He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, his scruffy beginners beard tickling her face.

As Cat and Stiles chatted, Zachary sat in the empty chair next to Lydia and across from Stiles and grabbed a book and a highlighter. Scott followed, sitting in between the vampire and his best friend, at the head of the table, across from Allison. He grabbed the thinnest book off the table and began reading as well. He saw Liam come into the room, grab an orange and hoist himself up onto the counter closest to the door bordering the kitchen and dining room. 

"Actually, Liam, can you hang out with Isaac... make sure he doesn't go anywhere." Scott directed his young beta. Liam huffed and jumped off the counter. 

"I hate being on babysitting duty." He mumbled as he walked into the living room.

Stiles pulled the last book, a heavy hardcover about Mesopotamian mysticism, off the table and dragged it in front of him. He held Cat's hand in his lap as the group read in silence. Liam and Isaac went out into Stiles' front yard to pass around a lacrosse ball and get Isaac's head out of the events of the night before. An hour passed by with only the sounds of highlighters squeaking against paper and Liam and Isaac yelling outside filling the house.

"I found something about goats." Lydia said aloud, breaking the silence. 

"Goats?" Allison asked, skepticism in her voice. 

"Yes, Allison, goats. It's part of those tablets that your professor talked about in his lecture." Lydia explained. 

"The one about the story of the scribe summoning the rabisu in Babylon?" Cat asked.

Lydia nodded. "It says that he sacrificed goats to summon them... well, more so that he buried them, but yea, it was just a couple of lines in this chapter about sacrificing to the gods but it references those tablets." Lydia turned the book around and slid it across the table towards Cat and Stiles.

Cat read it out loud.  _"Sacrifices were not always done by priests at the temple nor were they always done specifically for the gods. In the Surpu Tablets, nine clay stelas that tell the story of a scribe who summoned an evil spirit known as a 'rabisu', the scribe sacrifices five goats, then buries their bodies in the ground outside of his home, in order to please and summon the evil demon. This is one of the rare exceptions where a sacrifice was not done by..."_ Cat trailed off as the paragraph continued on about normal animal sacrifices in Ancient Mesopotamia, and away from the rabisu. 

"So Sam killed goats?" Scott questioned, his eyes widening at the concept.

"At least three since Isaac said he saw three rabisu last night... what a sick fucking dude." Stiles interjected, rubbing at the stubble on his chin.

"And buried them outside his house." Lydia reminded them.

"Do his parents still live there?" Allison asked anyone at the table who would know. 

"No, the Sheriff said that they put it on the market and moved out of Beacon Hills last week." Scott told his girlfriend. 

"Scott, you and Zach need to grab Isaac and Liam, call Malia, Ethan, Corey, Hayden and Mason and head over to Sam's house." Stiles told his best friend.

Scott nodded and stood. "Are you guys going to be good?" He looked at Stiles and Cat. 

"Yea, we'll be fine here tonight. The Sheriff is coming home early and I'm making them dinner." Cat assured the Alpha. 

"Scott, my Dad has like nine shovels in the vault, we can get them. I'm coming with you guys." Allison said as she grabbed her purse and car keys and headed to the door with Zachary and Scott. 

"We have one in the garage you can grab.. Don't stay out there too late." Stiles shouted after them as Scott waved and closed the front door. 

"Okay, well, I told Jordan that I would have lunch with him today so I'm going to go and do that and tell him to not answer any reports of a bunch of teenagers digging up a dead kids backyard today..." Lydia half smiled and rose from the table. 

"Later, Lyds." Stiles waved as she closed the front door behind her.

The house was suddenly silent and empty. Stiles looked over at Cat and narrowed his eyes. "Where do you even find that many goats?" She shrugged.

* * *

 

Stiles sat in the chair reading text messages from Scott as Cat whisked her way through the kitchen, making the Stilinski men chicken piccata for dinner. The Sheriff was emptying out the angel hair pasta into the colander in the sink, when he glanced over to his son who was swiping away at his phone. 

"What're you looking at?" Noah asked as he pulled large bowls down to set the table with. Cat glanced over her shoulder at the start of their conversation. 

"Scott is sending me the pictures from today. They dug up twenty goat remains in Sam's backyard. The kid murdered twenty fucking goats. That's insane! That's like, deeply, deeply disturbed." Stiles slid his phone over to his Dad and watched as he flipped through the pictures that Scott had sent.

"This kid was just a ticking time bomb, wasn't he?" 

Stiles raised his eyebrows and nodded. Cat brought over a platter full of the chicken piccata and a bowl of pasta and watched as the two Stilinski men dug in, piling the homemade food onto their plates. She laughed quietly to herself and sat across from Stiles and next to Noah at the table. 

"How do you even get twenty goats?" She asked in between bites, echoing Stiles' inquiry from earlier. 

"I am going to call Clarke after dinner and have her get a warrant for Sam's bank transactions and then maybe we can figure that out, but I'm sure he just ordered them online." Noah explained. 

"How is Clarke going to explain to the judge for the warrant how you found all of the goats?" Stiles asked, his mouth full of pasta and chicken.

"I'll say we got a tip about a smell and dug up his backyard." Stilinski explained, as he took a swig of his Stella Artois. Stiles cocked his head to the side and went back to eating his dinner. 

* * *

 

The Sheriff had gone up to bed a couple of hours before, leaving Stiles and Cat alone downstairs to sleep on the pull-out couch. Cat had helped Stiles strip out of his clothes and into pajama pants and a t-shirt, and get into bed. He sat there, sitting upright, reading the book that he had been reading earlier in the day. Cat came out of the kitchen, wearing shorts and Stiles' zipped up hoodie, with her book and a glass of water. She unzipped the sweatshirt, tossing it on the chair, and got into the bed with Stiles. 

"Mmm.. I love you in my sweatshirt, but I've gotta say, I love you even more in a tight tank top." Stiles grinned, staring at the thin, magenta piece of fabric wrapped around Cat's chest. 

"Why's that?" She asked with a smirk.

"Cause I can do this..." Stiles reached over and yanked at Cat's already low cut top, pulling it down so that one of her breasts popped out. "Stiles!" She raised her voice at him and laughed.

"Come here.." Stiles pulled Cat gently onto his lap and wrapped his good hand around the small of her back. His hand with the cast still on it reached up and yanked at the strap on her other shoulder. He slid her shirt down even more, her other breast popping out of her shirt. 

"Stiles..." She moaned as he leaned forward and sucked on her nipple. "Your Dad could come down and catch us." She leaned into his kisses and tugged at his long, shaggy brown hair. 

"Don't worry about it, he's definitely asleep." Stiles moved his leg beneath her and kicked his laptop off the bed. A large thump noise echoed through the room as the MacBook Pro hit the hardwood floor. "Oh shit." 

"You okay?" Noah shouted from upstairs.

"Yea, Dad, fine just dropped a book." 

Cat tilted her head to the side and pursed her lips, lazily glaring at Stiles. "Yea, he sounds super asleep." She said sarcastically, as she pulled her shirt up back over her chest and dismounted from her boyfriend's lap to grab his computer off the floor. 

"Is it broken?" He asked. 

"No it's fine, just scratched the case... were you looking at pictures from our roadtrip?" She asked with a smirk as she handed back his laptop. 

"Yes, but not of us." She jutted out her lip in an exaggerated pout. "Oh come on, babe, that picture of us at Rocky Mountain National Park is the background of my computer, I look at those pictures all the time..." 

"Okay, okay.." She let him off the hook. "So what were you looking at then?" She snuggled back under the covers next to him, moving the book that had fallen on the bed when she got on top of him. 

"Lydia said something earlier about the 'Surpu tablets', and I couldn't shake the feeling that I had heard that before, so I was flipping through your notes and your textbook and then the book that I was reading earlier and there was nothing. So I was looking through the pictures that I took from the Oriental Museum in Chicago and I found it."

"Found what?" 

"The Surpu tablets, I had taken a picture of them while we were there. I asked you if you knew what they were and you didn't so I took a picture just in case." Stiles pulled the pictures up on his iPhoto.

"I think I remember that." She said as she zoomed in on the clay tablet with cuneiform writing. 

"Can you read that?" 

"Cuneiform?.. No, not even a little, but I can email the curator and ask them for a translation." She said, as she leaned over the bed and grabbed her own laptop off the floor. 

"That's going to take forever." Stiles complained.

"I can email my professor too and see if he can translate it faster."

Stiles nodded. "See if he can give you a phonetic pronunciation of what it would've been like to speak it in Sumerian."

"Akkadian." She corrected.

"Whatever, just type." Stiles continued flipping through his own pictures. "Did he answer yet?"

Cat stopped typing the email and looked over at her boyfriend with an unamused look on her face. "We are not doing this again."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have definitely been seeing pictures on tumblr of the interviews where Dylan has long hair and a beard and is wearing his backwards Mets hat, and if you don't know what I'm talking about, starting googling because *drool*


	36. The Lamassu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles catches Cat having a morning sex dream about him, and rewards her dirty mind. They then receive instructions on how to possibly defeat and destroy the rabisu once and for all, but not before having one last disturbing encounter with the evil spirits.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SMUT. like face-sitting smut. enjoy.

Stiles glanced at the clock on the bookshelf in the living room. 8:38AM. His dad had already quietly snuck out of the house to head to work, leaving Cat and Stiles alone for the rest of the day. He glanced over at his sleeping girlfriend, curled up into a ball under the sheets. She hadn't been back to the Argent's place in days and had finally run out of clean clothes. Swearing she would do laundry for the both of them the next day, Cat pulled a pair of Stiles' old boxers out of his dresser and put them on to sleep in. His heart skipped a beat as he sat on his bed and watched her pull his boxers up over her ass. The sight of her wearing his clothes was so sexy to him. 

Stiles winced as he adjusted his body to lay on his side. It had been almost three weeks since he was released from the hospital, and he was healing well, but certain actions still caused him a great deal of discomfort. He stared at the blue and orange cast on his left hand and frowned. He was going back to the doctor in three days for his next check up and to get the stitches taken out of his wound on his abdomen and his side, over where his liver is. He hoped that Doctor Dunbar would be pleased with his progression in walking and would take the stitches out of his shin as well. Most of all, he hoped that he would be cleared for sex. 

He stared down at the breathtakingly beautiful girl that he was madly in love with laying next to him and felt nothing but frustration. He didn't think he would see her for months that summer, but instead she had slept next to him every night for almost a month, yet he hadn't been inside of her that entire time. He was desperate for the feeling, and he was so horny. 

He smoothed the hair off of her neck and shoulder and cascaded it onto her pillow. He then heard her moan. He froze, hoping he hadn't woken her up. "Stiles.." She mumbled under her breath.

"Yea, baby?" He whispered. 

Silence was his response. He grinned as he realized that she was talking in her sleep and she was dreaming about him. He wiggled his body closer to hers, and ran the backs of his fingers from her shoulders down to her thigh, pushing the covers down as he went. He slid his arm with the cast under her pillow and placed his head right next to hers on top of her pillow. He closed his eyes as he breathed in her scent. 

"Mmm.......... Just like that." She mumbled again. Stiles grinned from ear to ear. He leaned forward and placed a wet kiss on her shoulder blade. "Mmmm..." She moaned. 

He ran his hand down to her ass, searching for an opening in the fabric of his boxers. His hand felt the heat radiating off of her and his brain went haywire. He had to know if she was wet. He found the leg hole that was way too big for her legs, and gently stuck his fingers through. She wriggled at his touch. He watched her shoulder move up and down as she breathed, still sleeping. He ran his finger along the lips of her pussy and felt the how wet she was. He inhaled deeply, and felt his dick twitch, as it grew inside his pajama pants. 

He brought his pointer finger up to her clit and rubbed it gently in circles. She exhaled loudly, and began to stir. He assumed she was waking to his touch. Stiles brought his middle finger, dragging it from her clit, through the lips, and dipped it into her cunt. She let out a moan, and then reached her hand back to search for his hair to grab onto. He grinned as her fingers curled around his locks. He gently and slowly dipped his finger in and out of her and listened to her purr. He slipped his ring finger in and heard her moan his name. 

"Stiles..." She exhaled. 

"Morning, baby." He whispered into her ear. His hot breath sending shivers down her spine. He pulled his fingers out of her and placed them on her hip, pulling her body close his. "Come here." He whispered again. She felt his thick and swollen cock against her ass and she gyrated against him. He whimpered, and she sleepily smiled. Stiles grabbed her thigh and pulled her leg over his, opening his access to her further. He slipped his fingers back inside of her and she gasped. 

"This is really quite a way to wake up." She panted. 

"Do you think I could make you come without rubbing your clit or sticking my dick in you... just by doing.. this..." She inhaled sharply as he turned his fingers and began rubbing them against her g-spot. She whimpered and nodded. The walls of her pussy twitched against his fingers. "You're already starting to get close, aren't you?" He asked with a grin. 

"Mmm.. Yes, baby." She mumbled. Normally, this would take her forever to orgasm, but he hadn't touched her much since his accident, not wanting to tease her since he couldn't be inside of her the way they both wanted. 

"Were you dreaming about me?" He asked, arrogance dripping in his huskier than usual tone. She nodded. "Tell me." He whispered in her ear.

She gulped, trying to concentrate on her words and not his fingers working inside of her. "You were... um, you were fucking me from behind over the arm of your couch in Berkeley.." She exhaled loudly as her walls started to tighten around him. "Then, before I could finish...... you pulled me down on top of you and ate me out until I came."

Stiles shuddered at the thought, his cock twitching against her. "Let me fucking do that then." Suddenly, his fingers pulled out of her and he rolled onto his back. "Come here." 

She got up on her knees and faced him. "I don't..." She wasn't sure where he wanted her. 

"Just come here." His eyes smoldered. She began to maneuver so that she could slide the boxers off, and he stopped her. "Don't even bother, just.." He pulled her hand over to his other side, bringing her leg swinging over his chest, positioning her to straddle him. He pushed her forward towards his face, and positioned the pillow more under his head so that he was just under her. She gripped the back of the couch in anticipation of what was to come. He reached up his hand to her hip and pulled her down on top of his face. He slurped up her juices and she screamed. 

He breathed hot air against her cunt and smiled. He dipped his pointed tongue into her opening and felt her jolt forward. He lightly blew cool air against her and watched her shiver and shake. He pulled her back down and dipped his tongue in further, swirling it around against her walls. 

"Oh god, holy fuck, Stiles." She moaned. 

He dragged his tongue from her opening, over the length of her pussy, and buried his face into her clit, sucking hard against it. She ground down onto his face. He nibbled gently and sucked her nub in between his teeth, holding it there and licking it with his tongue. She trembled as he rotated between those movements. He was ravenous for her. He sloppily licked and sucked and bit and just pushed his face against her. He kept her steady against him, not minding that it was difficult to breathe. He would breathe when she was finished. 

He went back to the consistent rotation of licking up and down with his pointed tongue and sucking on her clit. He knew she was close when she began grinding against his mouth, showing him what she wanted most. She wanted him to wrap his lips around her throbbing nub and suck. "Oh god.. I'm.. ah." She whimpered and stopped speaking. Stiles buried his face in her and began to feel her shake with some force. Her back contorted and her legs shook beside his head. He kept going until she yelled. "Stop, stop, oh god, I can't take anymore.."

She collapsed on the bed next to him, her left leg still draped over his chest and shaking. Stiles rubbed her calf with his good hand and tried to steady her fidgety limbs. She calmed but small shivers, like aftershocks from an earthquake, occasionally took over and caused her to shake. He grinned a filthy grin and heard her sigh. "You good, baby?" 

 "I swear to god, my vision is blurry right now." She moaned, causing Stiles to burst out laughing. He licked his lips, still tasting her sweetness on his tongue. He wiped his beard with his hands and wondered if his cum tasted as good as her pussy did. He felt his cock twitch in his pants and he sighed. He wanted nothing more than to be buried deep inside of her. He felt the precum dripping onto his thigh and he looked at Cat. "You should always, always, always wake me up like that. I would be a morning person if you did that." She glanced up at Stiles as she spoke, and caught him adjusting his fully erect dick in his pants. "Baby?" She asked hesitantly. "Are you sure I can't help you..."

Stiles nodded, and shut his eyes. "I need like the coldest shower ever right now or I think I'm going to die."

Cat couldn't help but laugh. She carefully pulled her leg off of Stiles, sat up and watched as her legs continued shaking. "Looks like I need one too." She took a deep breath and stood, steadying herself as she adjusted his boxers on her hips. She came around to the other side of the bed and helped him up. Cat walked behind him with her hands pushed against his back as he slowly made his way up the stairs. She helped Stiles out of his clothes and into the shower. She listened to him turn on the water, as she ran out into the hall closet to grab fresh towels. She came back in, placed them on the sink counter, and began to get undressed. 

Stiles had left the shower curtain only half covering the tub, and saw her disrobing. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. No." Cat glanced up at him, her eyes widening over his protests. "Seriously, if I see you naked right now and you get in the shower with me, I'm going to kill myself. I can't handle this. Can you wait and shower after me?"

Cat rolled her eyes and smirked, dropping her shirt back over her stomach. "Fine."

"Thanks, baby." Stiles grinned, leaned out of the shower and kissed Cat on the cheek. "Hey, do you know if we've heard from your professor or the curator yet?" He shouted over the running water. 

"No, I'll go grab my phone." Cat ran downstairs, grabbed her phone and then ran back up, scrolling through her email as she walked back into the bathroom. "Professor Simon emailed me back."

Stiles ripped at the shower curtain and looked at Cat. "He did?! What'd he say?"

"Oh shit...." Cat scrolled through the contents of the email with a displeased look on her face. 

"What? What'd he say?" 

"He gave us the translation in full and the phonetic pronunciation." 

"Then what's 'oh shit'?" Stiles asked, stepping out of the water and scrubbing shampoo into his hair and beard, and staring at his girlfriend, sitting cross-legged on the toilet seat cover, staring at her phone.

Cat looked up. "He also wants me to send him the newspaper articles that I claimed I needed all of this information for because I was writing a story about Mesopotamia."

Stiles started laughing. "What'd you say the article was about?"

"I don't know, I said something about ISIS and destroying artifacts.. I don't know! I made it up. Shit."

"It's okay, baby." Stiles chuckled and ran his hands under the water to get the soap off. "We'll tell him that the article didn't get published or something."

"I'm still probably going to have to write something though."

"Yea, probably." 

Cat let out an annoyed, muffled growling sigh, and watched as Stiles reached for the towel, the water still running in the shower. She helped him out, and then watched as he wrapped the towel around his waist and sat down where she was sitting. She began undressing to take her own shower, when Stiles flailed his arms frantically and covered his eyes.

"Seriously, Cat. I am like a powderkeg of horniness right now. I will just lose it if I see you naked. Give a guy a warning or get undressed behind the curtain or something." Stiles said, his hand covering his closed eyes.

"Oh my god, we have _got_ to get those stitches out of you, as soon as possible." She said as she got in the shower, and turned up the hot water a bit, taking it from ice cold to tepid.

"Friday, baby. The stitches come out on Friday. I am counting down the seconds." Stiles said as he picked up her phone from the counter, opened it and started reading the email. "Did you read the translation yet?" He asked.

"No. Read it to me." She said, poking her head out from behind the curtain, and wiping the water out of her eyes to look at him. 

Stiles began reading. "' _The Šurpu begins 'enūma nēpešē ša šur-pu t[epp]ušu', or Simon wrote, 'when you perform the rituals for (the series), Burning,’_..."

"What the hell does that mean?" Cat shouted as she washed the shampoo out of her hair.

"Professor Simon said that you have to burn things like garlic or red wool while you recite the incantation, as they ' _symbolically represent your transgressions'_."

"Okay... I don't know that I really transgressed but whatever. What else does it say?"

"So the way to summon the rabisu is to smear one of the goat skulls used to summon them in the first place in blood."

"Human blood?" She asked, sticking her head back out to look at him, alarm spread across her face.

"Probably, if I know our luck...." Stiles kept reading. "So, the real incantation that you're supposed to recite while burning stuff, when the rabisu are actually in front of you reads, ' _My illness, my weariness, my guilt, my crime, my sin, my transgression._ _The illness that is present in my body, my flesh (and) my veins,_ _Be peeled off like this garlic so that_ _The fire-god, the burner, consumes (it) today! _May the curse leave so that I may see the light!_ '..._ Kind of a mouthful, but if we practice it, that should be doable by Saturday."Stiles heard her sigh, and he contorted his face. He knew she was feeling a lot of pressure over this whole thing.

"Is that the end of the email?" She asked, turning the water off, grabbing the towel off the counter, and wrapping it around her. She stepped out of the shower, and sat down on the ledge of the tub. She tucked the edge of the towel in around her chest and rung her hair out over the drain.

Stiles paused and read the rest of the email, then sighed. "No." He wiped his finger across the bottom of his nose twice, and looked up at her, staring at him. "Professor Simon said that he isn't one-hundred percent sure that the Surpu is the correct spell to get rid of the rabisu."

"What do you mean?" Cat rose from the ledge and stood over Stiles, trying to glance at her phone in his hands. 

"There's this other one called the Maqlu, and he said that that might be the correct one... that the Surpu might only be effective if it's used by the person who summoned the spirits in the first place." Stiles looked up at her, his mouth contorted to the side with concern.

"Okay, so what are the odds that the Surpu is right? I mean, it's the one most closely related in all of the literature about them, right?"

Stiles cocked his head to the side and made a wishy-washy face.  "Um, he said it's about fifty-fifty... but the Maqlu looks way more involved so why don't we try to Surpu first?"

"Great.. this is great." Cat looked somewhat defeated already. 

Stiles glanced up from her phone and saw her face. He stood and brought her in for a hug. "Hey, no.. don't worry, babe. We'll work on it together. I'll make sure you have this thing down pat." He kissed her damp forehead and rocked her in his arms.

* * *

 

Stiles and Cat spent the next two days doing nothing but trying to memorize the Surpu incantation. Stiles also had Lydia working on one of her famous self-igniting molotov cocktails, but one that would sustain a flame for an extended period of time, but also not burn any buildings down. She came by Thursday afternoon and dropped off five vials of her concoction, promising that they would do everything that Cat needed them to do come Saturday night. The plan was set. Saturday was four days before the full moon and they were going to test run killing the rabisu with the Surpu. Stiles figured that they could easily do it at the high school, outside of the big double doors that led to the gym, the same place where Coach was attacked, because multiple people could stand in that doorway at once and not be crowded. Cat, Scott, Liam, Isaac, Zachary, Malia and Stiles were all going to go, acting as bait to fight the rabisu and keep them in place while Cat attempted to destroy them with the incantation and burning ritual. Thursday night came and Stiles was confident that Cat had gotten the speech down. She was mentally and emotionally drained from all of the worrying and studying and fell right asleep.

* * *

 

"Cat...?"

"Mhmm?" She turned her head slightly towards him. He stayed silent, regretting waking her up. "Stiles, what's wrong?" She turned over onto her other side, this time facing him. 

"I couldn't sleep in the position we're in." 

"I can't.. like, cuddle with you. You're still healing.." She whispered, as she tried to adjust her eyes to the darkness to look at him. 

"I know.. I know, can you just... I could sleep if you touched me." Stiles told her, fidgeting in place. 

"Okay." She smiled even though she knew he couldn't see it in the dark. She scooted her body closer to his and placed her hand on the inside crease of his elbow. She felt the hard shell of his cast against her pinky. Her eyes began to adjust to the darkness and she saw him watching her. She slid her fingers up his arm, the soft texture of his long and thick brown arm hair tickled her fingertips. She rested her hand on his bicep, tucking her fingers under the sleeve of his t-shirt. She heard him sigh. 

"I think I was having a anxiety attack earlier." He whispered. 

"When?" She asked, furrowing her brow and pushing her hand further up his arm to rest on his shoulder. 

"Just before I woke you up... I don't know. Ever since I got out of the hospital, my anxiety has been... weird... I'm getting, like... separation anxiety from you." Stiles admitted. 

"What do you mean? Since you were attacked, I've barely been away from you at all." She reassured him. 

"I know.. I know. I just, I keep replaying this whole thing in my head and what if I had died..... I wouldn't be with you anymore... and I would have what? Just left you alone like that? If I were you and you did that to me, it would've ruined my fucking life... and that thought makes my heart feel like it's about to pump itself right out of my chest." Stiles winced as he raised his right hand and lifted it over his torn up body to touch her arm. His hand and leg and chest were healing, but the wounds on his abdomen and side were still somewhat painful. 

Cat breathed heavily. It pained her to hear him struggling so much. "Tell your heart and your brain to slow down because I am right here. I am not going anywhere. I'm right here." She gently kneaded her thumb into his shoulder. 

"You know where I wish we were?" Stiles asked. 

"You mean, instead of on your dad's living room pull-out couch?" She asked, eliciting a snicker from Stiles. 

"All I've been thinking is how badly I wish we were laying in your bed, in your room back in Berkeley right now. I miss the humming from your fridge and the light from your TV, and the softness of your sheets, and how we'd always sleep all tangled up together in your bed. It's funny, I love Beacon Hills, but I am really starting to miss school." 

"I get it. I miss my apartment. I miss your room too, if it's any consolation. Your three locks, werewolf roommate, and selection of baseball bats always let me sleep safe." She whispered, trying not to wake any of the upstairs sleepers.

Stiles chuckled. "Don't make fun of my baseball bats... not all of us have magical powers."

She smiled. "Do you want me to take you to the doctor tomorrow?"

Stiles squeezed her arm tightly. "Yes, but I think my Dad really wants to take me."

Cat leaned forward and kissed Stiles' arm. "That's fine, I'll just see you afterwards.... You still feeling anxious?" She asked. 

"No... talking to you always helps." Stiles shut his eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep, until his eyelids flashed red. "What was that?" He opened his eyes and saw Cat sitting up in bed, shielding her eyes from the crack in the curtains for the bay window in Stiles' living room which was glowing a blinding white. "..DAD..." Stiles screamed up to his sleeping father. Stiles watched as Cat rose out of bed and walked towards the front door. 

"What the hell is going on?!" Noah said as he rushed down the stairs, covering his eyes to let them adjust to the bright light. Noah ran into the kitchen and grabbed his police issued firearm off of the counter, then helped Stiles, who was already trying to get out of bed to follow Cat.

"Cat, stop." Noah shouted as he saw her left hand turning the knob to the front door. 

Stiles glanced down at Cat's right hand and saw a spark of silver light pooling in her palm. "Cat..." He said hesitantly. 

"Just stay back." She said quietly as she turned her head to look at the two Stilinski men. Stiles looked at her eyes, they had gone from their normal piercing and stunning hazel-green to a sharp and bright silver, matching the color of the orb forming in her hand. He knew she was readying a force field to protect them all. 

Noah pushed Stiles behind him and readied himself in a position next to Cat, his gun trained on the door. He nodded at her. "I'm ready when you are."

Cat pulled the door open and they all stepped back. Before them was a life-sized lamassu swiping its paw at a rabisu. Stiles stepped forward, grabbed Cat's wrist, and pulled her away from the door, positioning her behind him. They heard the lamassu roar like an animal from its human mouth and slash at the rabisu again. The evil demon shrieked and disappeared. The lamassu turned its head and looked at Cat and Stiles. It then closed its eyes and disappeared back into the painting on the wall outside of the Stilinski's front door. Noah rushed to close and lock the front door as soon as the light from the lamassu had gone. They all stood in silence for a few moments.

"I can't even deal with this right now. Are you two okay?" Noah looked at his son and his son's girlfriend. 

"Yea, Dad, we're okay." Stiles still had his arms wrapped around Cat, his hand pushing her head into the crook of his neck, trying to help calm her so that her eyes would go back to normal.

"Alright, then I'm going back to bed. Don't open that door again unless it's actually sunny and not whatever the hell that was." Noah trudged back up the stairs to his bedroom and slammed the door.

Stiles and Cat got back into bed and Stiles eventually fell asleep. Cat, however, stared at the ceiling the rest of the night until morning, tears streaming down her eyes as she internally panicked over what was to come.


	37. The Hospital Clearance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles gets his stitches out and goes to surprise Cat, hoping to finally be able to have sex again, but when he gets to the Argent's, Cat has a meltdown and Stiles spends the rest of the night trying to find ways to distract her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know those weird conversations/nights when your significant other or yourself is just feeling off or weighed down by something and so you kind of start having weird but deep conversations about trust or testing your trust in each other? That's this chapter.

**Stiles:** " _Hey Al, are you home?_ "

 **Allison:** " _Yeah, what's up?_ "

 **Stiles:** " _is Cat home?_ "

 **Allison:** " _She's in her room playing guitar, why?_ "

 **Stiles:** " _the front desk guy let me come up, can you let me in? I wanna surprise her_." 

Allison dropped her phone on her bed and went to the front door to let Stiles in. "How are you feeling?" She asked, knowing that he had been at the hospital that morning getting his stitches out. 

"I got cleared, so I'm doing great... is that Cat?" Stiles pointed towards where the sound was coming out of Cat's closed door. 

_"I would only be in your way, So I'll go but I know, I'll think of you every step of the way,"_

Allison smiled. "Yea, she's really good actually. But I'm sure you've heard her play a million times." 

_"And I..... will always love you, ooh, will always love you..."_

_"_ I've actually only ever heard her play once and she's never sung like that in front of me. She is really good..." Stiles told Allison, furrowing his brow. He looked back at the beautiful brunette in front of him. "Thanks Allison." Allison smiled and walked back to her room.

_"Bittersweet memories - That is all I'm taking with me. So good-bye. Please don't cry.."_

Stiles walked towards Cat's room, cracking the door open slowly, and hearing the room fill even more with her voice and the strumming of her guitar. He saw her sitting on the fire escape, her back leaning against the brick on the outside of the building. Her window was open all the way and she did not hear him enter the room. He smiled and listened to her.

_"And I.... will always love you. I will always love you. You, ooh."_

Her voice was deep and low like Whitney's, with not nearly as much power but still beautiful and sweet to hear. Stiles' mom had loved this song when he was growing up and he knew that there was an instrumental interlude coming up. He stepped towards the window, leaned on the window seat and began playing the notes of the interlude on an imaginary saxophone made from his fingers. Cat jumped at the noise he produced from his lips and smiled slightly. 

"So I guess you heard me, huh?" She said, her face beet red, as she turned to climb back through the window, handing her guitar to Stiles on the inside. 

"I didn't mean for you to stop, you sounded amazing." Stiles said as he placed her guitar on its stand in the corner. 

She shut the screen for the window behind her and sat on the window seat. "It's okay, my fingers were starting to hurt anyway. What are you doing here? Did your Dad drop you off?" 

Stiles pushed the sleeve of his blue plaid button-down up his arm, and pulled the keys to his Jeep out of his pocket, dangling them in front of him. "Nope." He said with a wide grin.

"You got cleared?" Cat said, a smile spreading across her own face, as she turned and closed her window. 

"Mhmm."

She walked over to the temperature control panel and turned the air conditioning back on in her room. "Did he say that you could.."

"Ohhh yea." Stiles nodded and shoved his keys back in his pocket. 

"Then I really don't know what you're doing with your clothes still on." She teased as she walked over to the bed, dropping her shirt to the ground. 

"God yes." Stiles said as he kicked his shoes off in random directions, almost knocking over a lamp on Cat's desk. He stumbled over his pant legs as he tried taking them off while trying to close the door and lock it. 

Cat laid on the bed completely naked, as she watched him struggling with the buttons on his shirt, eventually just giving up and trying to get it over his head. He was stuck. Cat giggled. "Seriously?" He shouted, his voice muffled by the fabric.

"Okay.. c'mere." She said, as she got up and pulled Stiles' shirt back over his body. He looked down at her, her face serious as she maneuvered her fingers down his shirt, unbuttoning it slowly and pulling it off, tugging to get it over the cast still over his left wrist. He placed his hands on her hips and pulled her close to him. She felt his semi-erect cock press against her leg, and it sent electricity through her body. 

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked, feeling like she wasn't completely in the moment. She nodded, and stared at her hands, tracing the lines of his chest. He knew better when it came to her. "No you're not. Cat, what's wrong?" He pulled her towards the foot of the bed, and sat next to her. "Cat...?" She turned away from him and began crying. "Oh, baby, what is happening right now?" He pulled her head towards him and rested it in the crook of his neck, feeling her tears begin to hit against his bare skin. "Come on, come up here.." Stiles strained as he climbed up onto her bed, pulling her with him, and getting under the covers together. She rested her body in between his legs and placed her head against his chest. He wrapped her up tightly in his arms, and craned his neck down to rest his cheek against the top of her head. "Catherine..." He said lowering the tone of his voice. "Please tell me why you're crying." She shook her head. "Why do I feel like you're about to break up with me... "

Cat popped her head up. "No, no, no, no, god no." She wiped the tears from her eyelashes. 

"Then tell me what's going on." He wiped even more tears off the other side of her face, then ran his fingers through her hair, cupping his hand behind her head. 

"I am so fucking scared, Stiles." 

"Over what?" He pushed her off of him and hoisted her up so he could look at her.

"Last night.. tomorrow night. This whole thing." 

"What do you mean?" Stiles' heart broke hearing her voice cracking as she tried to hold back another deluge of tears.

"The rabisu... they're huge.. I don't even know how you and your Dad are alive.. or Cora or Isaac... I have no idea how I'm supposed to fight that thing... and that was only one, too, I'm supposed to be getting rid of all of them?! Are you kidding? This is way too much." She devolved into a puddle of tears, sinking her face into her hands.

Stiles leaned forward, grabbing her wrists with both of his hands, and pulling them off her face. Her cheeks were red and blotchy and made her freckles look dull. Her normally striking irises popped a vibrant green against the red in the rest of the eyes. "Catherine... take a deep breath." Her chest shuttered as she inhaled deeply. "Okay, I get it. They are terrifying... beyond terrifying... I don't want you in the same state as them, let alone face to face with them. Literally the last thing in the whole world that I want is to put you in danger." Her face contorted as she tried to stop crying and listen to Stiles' words. "Did you know that I called your Dad and asked him to come out here to do the incantation instead of you?"

Cat furrowed her brow at him, and wiped at her cheek. "You did?" Her breathing became steadier as the conversation began to distract her from her meltdown. 

"Yea, and he said no because he thought that you could handle it and it would be good practice for your magic." Stiles paused and shook his head. "Your dad is kind of a huge asshole." 

Cat laughed slightly. "I know... trust me." 

"I think he's right though, you can handle this. You've been so cool-headed in every crisis that's been thrown your way so far, you handled an entire room of vampires when we went to save Hanna, and you went up against those two in Magnolia Park by yourself."

"Yea, except you and Scott had to save me from them.." Her face began to return to a normal color, but her eyes remained a bloodshot red. "And... the other time was to save Hanna... and... I don't know how you and Scott and everyone else just keep throwing yourselves into the face of danger without a second thought. I am not that brave." She admitted an anxiety that had been plaguing her for weeks.

"I'm always scared. Scott's always scared. You saw how terrified Isaac was the other night. We're all scared.. but we all have each other and so far that has gotten us through everything, and we'll be there with Scott and Isaac and Liam and Malia and Zachary tomorrow night in case you need help again. You won't even be in the doorway. They won't be able to touch you. I'll make sure of it."

"They won't be able to hurt me, but we're using our friends as bait, and they could get hurt. Isaac already has."

"No one will, Cat. You know the incantation. You do. This isn't even the big plan, either, this is just the trial run to see if the Surpu works. We don't have to do three of them tomorrow, we can do only one or two of the rabisu, if that will make you feel better." Stiles assured her. 

Cat sighed and paused. "I don't want you there." 

"What do you mean?" Stiles narrowed his eyes at her. 

"You just got your stitches out from your last encounter with them today." She said as she ran her fingertips along the pink, healing scars on his chest and neck. 

Stiles wrapped his hand around hers. "Please don't do this. I don't want you going there without me."

Cat shook her head. "No, you've talked me back into it... I know I have to do this, but I do _not_ want you getting hurt again. If I am distracted because I'm worried about you, then this whole thing is never going to work, and I will be distracted if you are at the school, in there, with me, in danger." 

"Cat.." 

She shook her head again and placed her hands on his chest. "Please... Stiles, I just need you to be safe." She stared straight into his eyes, and waited. 

"I fucking hate this."

"I do too."

"You can't get hurt, Cat. I need you." Stiles pressed his hand against her cheek, and brought his face close to hers, still getting lost in her eyes. "I really need you." He pulled her against him, his lips crashing against her in a desperate, heartbreaking kiss. He scooped his hand around the small of her back, and strained to place her on the bed. She ran her fingers up through his shaggy hair and kissed back hard. The two of them, settling into each other's bodies, and Cat pawing and pulling at Stiles, trying to get as close as possible to his skin. Stiles put his hand up against her cheek as they kissed. He felt his fingers become wet and he pulled his face back to look at her. She was tearing up as she kissed him. "Why do I feel like you think this is the last time we'll be together?" He asked, his body struggling to remain hovering over her. 

"What if it is?" 

"As much as I want you, I'm not going to let you do this." He pushed his hands against the mattress, getting himself back upright. He leaned against her pillows as she sat up to look at him. He was angry. "Tomorrow is going to be fine. Nothing bad is going to happen."

"Stiles...." She placed her hand up against his cheek, and Stiles furrowed his brow and pressed his cheek against her palm. He held back tears. He was scared too, but he would never tell her because if he couldn't be strong for her, who could? They laid in her room for a couple of hours, naked and holding each other under her covers. She drifted off around four and he held her until she woke again around six. She smiled gently as she opened her eyes and found her body curled up against his side, and Stiles watching a movie. She felt his fingers keeping a consistent pace as they gently caressed her arm, and she pressed her fingertips into his chest. 

"Sleepyhead." He whispered, as he looked down Cat yawning. 

" _The Dark Knight_?" She asked as she saw what was playing on her TV.

"It was on HBO and you know I'm gonna watch Heath Ledger play The Joker every time I see it." The sun was beginning to grow orange through her window, casting a soft glow in the room. The two of them laid in bed watching the movie, and listening to Stiles occasionally quote his favorite lines throughout, until around seven, Cat heard Stiles' stomach grumble. 

She looked up at him and picked a fallen eyelash off of his cheek, held it out and let him blow himself a wish. "I think there is still that curry chicken thing I made the other night for dinner in the fridge, if you're hungry." She mentioned, hearing his stomach growl again. 

"The one with the chutney?" He asked, perking up. Cat nodded. "My wish for chicken did come true." Stiles said with a goofy grin. 

"Oh shut up." She laughed, watching him get out of bed, walk over to her top dresser drawer, pull out a pair of boxer briefs, pajama pants, and a tshirt of his. She always liked that he kept a change of daytime clothes and pajamas at her place. It signaled to her a level of commitment that did anything but frighten her. She smiled as he came back into her room with two plates of hot food for the both of them. They ate on her bed and finished watching the movie. 

"Do you want to watch something else?" She asked him, as she reached over him for the remote. Stiles grabbed it off of the nightstand before she could and shut off the TV. The room went dark and he reached up to turn on a lamp.

"Can I ask you something?" Cat nodded. "Will you play something for me?" Cat sighed. "Or do you not trust me enough to play for me?" Stiles watched as she walked over to grab her guitar from the corner of her room. She had dressed in red plaid pajama pants and a marled gray tank top while he had been in the kitchen getting their dinner together. Stiles got out of her bed and sat on the soft white carpet, at the foot of her bed. Cat sat in her window seat and pressed the fingers on her left hand against her fret board. She began strumming lightly on the strings and expertly moving her fingers to create new chords as she began playing a song that he had heard her sing in the shower at his apartment in Berkeley a million times. 

_Got pulled in by the flood, and it pulled your body under._

_Holding up the love, the love of another._

_As you paddled for the sand, your feet touch nothing._

_Don't release this stranger's hand, cause I think I've got this covered._

_Though my water legs are weak, I'm kicking like a mother._

_Though this water keeps our whistles wet, I've never been less thirsty._

_Make your way to the top... Got pulled in by the flood._

She had closed her eyes and leaned against the window frame as she sang softly to Stiles. She strummed against the strings for a few moments after the song was technically over, and then opened her eyes. At some point during the song, Stiles had laid back on the floor, resting his hands across his stomach, clasped together, and closed his eyes. She wondered if she had somehow lulled him to sleep. She gently placed her acoustic guitar against the wall next to her, with plans of checking on him when the guitar was propped up correctly. She jumped when he spoke, and then chuckled at herself for being startled. 

"How does the telekinesis work?" He asked, his eyes still closed as he remained laying on the floor. 

"What do you mean?" She pressed her elbow into the side of her knee, as she sat cross-legged, and set her chin on top of her balled up fist. She was watching how peaceful and calm he looked.

"Have you always used your hands or have you moved stuff with just your mind?" Stiles gently moved his hand around the room as he spoke, still not lifting his head. 

Cat glanced at her hands, she had never thought about it. "I don't know. I guess I have always just used my hands. It's what felt natural, but I mean, I guess I could just use my mind if I really practiced."

"Have you ever tried to lift yourself? Like, levitate or something?" Stiles moved his hands from on top of his stomach to laced up behind his head. Cat stared at the engorged veins in his biceps and grinned. She loved this boy so much. "Babe?" Stiles pulled her from zoning out.

Cat inhaled through her nose and smiled as she saw him propping his head up to look at her. "I.. I struggle with organic material... so people and creatures and stuff."

"But you tossed like six vampires across the room when we went to save Hanna?" Stiles recalled, as Cat shrugged. 

"Sometimes I get it right.."

"Try it on me."

"Try levitating you?" She questioned, smirking at how easy he made it sound. She got off of the window seat and sat down next to Stiles, who gripped his hand around her thigh as she settled in next to him. 

"Yea.." Stiles glanced up at her and smiled softly. He was trying his best to distract her from thinking about tomorrow and he thought that maybe if she practiced aspects of her magic that had nothing to do with the Surpu, that she would be at ease.

"Okay." She said quietly. Cat took a deep breath in and closed her eyes. Her small hands wrapped around the hand he had on her thigh, and she brought it up to her lips. She pressed small wet kisses against his fingers and smiled, leaving his hand against her happy mouth. Stiles let out an almost inaudible laugh and smiled, watching her focus in on his hand. 

"I love you." He whispered up at her. 

"Shh." She smiled a toothy grin, never opening her eyes, as she hushed him from breaking her concentration. A few minutes passed and nothing happened. "Okay, I give up."

Stiles sat up and leaned forward. "Come on, baby. I know you can... Just focus." 

Cat sat up straighter and huffed. She cracked the knuckles on both of her hands and rotated her wrists. Stiles' face dropped into a displeased grimace. "Okay, okay. I'm doing it." She closed her eyes and focused on the faint beating of Stiles' heart. She lifted her hands, palms up from the ground, slightly.

"Whoa..." Stiles sounded alarmed. 

"What?" She opened one eye. Then she opened both. "OH MY GOD." 

Stiles dropped the few inches back to the floor. "Well, that kind of hurt." 

Cat was standing above Stiles and slightly hopping in excitement. "Holy shit, I can't believe that worked."

"Do it again." Stiles' mouth was turned up in a small grin. He was proud of his girl. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh and the song was "Flood Part II" by The Acorn and "I Will Always Love You" by the incomparable Whitney Houston


	38. The Surpu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Four days before the full moon, nearing the beginning of August, Cat, Liam, Malia, Scott and Zachary gather at the Beacon Hills High gymnasium with a plot to lure and destroy the rabisu using the Surpu, an ancient incantation that could be the key to finally ridding Beacon Hills of the archaic demons.

"You okay?" Scott asked as he and Cat walked through the halls of his old high school, heading towards the gym. 

Cat kept up with Scott's pace and adjusted the tote bag over her shoulder. She glanced over at Scott and looked down at the sleeping bag in her left hand and the pillow shoved under her arm. She sighed. "I'm..... really scared." She finally admitted to her Alpha. 

"Yea, I am too. I keep thinking like, what if we can't actually get rid of these things? What happens to Beacon Hills? It's been hard enough keeping people contained to their houses at night for just a month. People will leave and Beacon Hills will become a ghost town." Scott worried out loud. 

Cat contorted her face to the side as she set down her backpack, sleeping bag, and pillow in the middle of the basketball court in the gym of Beacon Hills High School. "Somehow, I hadn't even thought of that." She said with a sigh. 

"Uh... that was not meant to add any extra pressure."

"And yet..." 

Scott frowned. "Sorry, C." You shook your head. You could never stay upset with Scott; he was too kind. 

"What's up, guys?" Isaac said as he walked through the doors to the gym with his own sleeping bag and pillow. 

"Hey, where are are Malia and Zach and Liam?" Scott asked, knowing that Isaac was supposed to bring them. 

"Malia was picking up Zach and Liam said he would be here soon."

"They better be. The sun goes down in two hours and we still need to set up." Scott shook his head, and grabbed the tote bags off the ground by his stuff, and began walking towards the gym doors that led outside. "Isaac, can you scrub off the lamassu stencils from the doors?" Isaac nodded, and grabbed the small bucket and sponge that Scott had brought. "Wanna help me grab desks?" Scott looked over at Cat, who was following him. She nodded. 

* * *

 

Cat, Isaac, Liam, Malia, Scott and Zachary all sat in plastic chairs, that they had stolen from the supply closet, and were sitting in a line, staring at the open double doors to the outside of the school. Isaac checked his phone again. "The sun should be setting soon." He sighed. 

"We really didn't need your phone to tell us that, Isaac." Malia said, rolling her eyes. 

"Should we start with the goat heads yet?" Liam asked, as he watched Scott walking towards the doors to turn on the bright fluorescent overhead lights in the gym. 

"No, it needs to be legitimately dark." Scott told his young Beta, while glancing at the three goat heads that they had lined up on Coach's desk, which they had dragged out near the doors to use as a table. 

"Can we go through the game plan again, Scott?" Isaac asked, clearly nervous about confronting the terrifying demons that nearly ripped him and Cora to shreds just earlier that week. 

"Yea, so we wait for it to get dark and Cat cuts her hand and smears the blood on the goat heads as a summoning. Liam is fastest so he will  _very quickly_ place the goat skulls on the outside of the doorway. The skulls will only get them here, they won't keep them here. We all need to be quick and keep a look out for each other. If they touch you, tear them to shreds and then get away. While we act as bait to keep the three rabisu that we are going to summon in place, Cat is going to break Lydia's self-sustaining molotov cocktail on the sidewalk..." Scott turned to Cat, and repeated himself to remind her. "On the sidewalk, not the chemically waxed and stained wood floors that will burn you and the school to the ground."

"I hate this plan." Malia said as she looked at Cat grimace over Scott's reminder.

Scott continued. "Cat burns the crap on the desk and says the spell and hopefully that's the end of the rabisu, and then we can do this on a larger scale and get rid of all of them."

"And if it doesn't work?" Isaac asked, knowing about the second incantation that might actually be the one that they needed. 

"Then I'll know as soon as the spell is done and I'll tell you guys to get back inside, and we get to have a fun little sleepover in your high school." Cat said sarcastically, swinging her fist in front of her in a fake cheery movement. 

"Do you know the spell?" Zachary asked.

"Yea, it's literally all Stiles and I have done for days is just memorize this crap. 

"Alright, well, we've got about twenty minutes so..." Scott sat back down with his friends and stared at the darkness outside of the large metal double doors. 

* * *

 

"Hold on, hold on." Cat said as she lowered the small knife from her palm. She put the blade between her teeth and dug her iPhone out of her pocket. 

"Oh you have got to be kidding me." Isaac rolled his eyes as he saw Stiles' picture come up on Cat's screen.

Cat accepted the FaceTime call, and Stiles appeared on her screen. She waited for the picture to be less pixelated before speaking. "Where are you?" She looked confused.

"Hello?" Liam picked up a call on his phone. 

" _Hi baby, are you about to start?"_ Stiles asked through FaceTime. 

"Yea, in a couple of minutes... you know, when I get off the phone with you." She said, her eyes widening with slight annoyance. 

"Guys, Mason said there is a cop car in the parking lot." Liam said as he looked at the group, his phone still pressed up against his ear. 

"What? Why are the cops here, didn't the Sheriff cordon off the place with tape this morning?" Scott asked, bewildered by the new development.

"Stiles, I don't think we're going to do this apparently there is a cop car in the parking lot." Cat said to her boyfriend through the screen.

" _Yea, that's me.... Is that Mason... HEY, MASON."_ Stiles yelled. Cat saw the picture go fuzzy and red as Stiles accidentally put his thumb over the front facing camera. She heard the dinging sound that a car makes when the door is open and the keys are in the ignition. " _Hey guys, how's it going?"_ Mason said, suddenly in the frame with Stiles. 

"What the hell is going on?! What is Mason doing here?" Scott yelled, looking at Liam.

Liam paused for a moment, his face getting red. "He's my ride home....."

Isaac couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity going on. "What was he going to sleep in his car and wait for daylight when you could actually leave the school?"

 _"I brought a blanket and pillow too... and chips, you want some, Stiles?"_ Mason replied to Isaac through Stiles and Cat's FaceTime call. 

" _Thanks, buddy."_

"What is Stiles doing here?" Malia was exasperated by the foolish men surrounding her. 

"Sti?" Cat asked, lifting the phone back up to the same height as her face. She was not pleased.

" _Don't be mad, baby. You said I couldn't be at the school with you guys, so I'm not. I'm at the school parking lot."_ Stiles explained his logic. 

"That seems safer." Isaac said sarcastically. 

"Why are you in a cop car, Stiles?" Scott asked, getting behind Cat so he could see Stiles on the screen.

" _YO, SCOTTY!"_ Stiles yelled with a grin. Scott couldn't help but smirk himself.  _"It's just an extra precaution. Listen, I didn't mean to interrupt, you guys should start, I.. just, baby, can you leave me on and prop me up against something so I can see what's happening?"_

"Oh my god, fine." Cat said, beyond done with the insanity that was ensuing. She propped him up against a book on Coach's desk.

 _"Well, that's not going to work."_ Mason said through the speaker. 

 _"No, Mason is right, all I can see is your back, Cat, and as much as I love the view, it's not helpful to me tonight."_ Stiles said.  _"Can you put me towards the side or something, and make sure to turn us towards the doors too."_ Stiles directed how he wanted the phone to be. Liam moved a full water bottle on to the seat of one of the chairs and propped the phone against it, as Stiles had requested.  _"Perfect, thanks Liam. Alright, good luck guys."_

* * *

They regrouped and got back in their positions. Cat took the small knife off Coach's desk and slit the palm of her hand with it. Blood began oozing out and she smeared it across the tops of the three skulls of the sacrificial goats. Liam quickly grabbed them and placed them on the outside of the doorway. 

"You guys ready?" Scott looked around at Liam, Malia, Isaac and Zachary. 

"Yea." Zachary said confidently, pushing his long fangs out of his gums. 

"You ready?" Scott asked, placing his hand on Cat's shoulder, as she pressed a clean cloth against her wounded hand. 

 _"Enūma nēpešē ša šur-pu t[epp]ušu"_ Cat repeated the opening line to the Surpu.

Like smoke coming out of thin air, three of the rabisu materialized outside of the ether, and immediately spotted the Pack. The shrill cries of the ancient demons filled the quiet night air.

"GO!" Scott yelled and the Pack, minus Cat stormed the rabisu. One immediately threw Malia against the brick wall of the school and Zachary pulled and slashed at it as the rabisu took a swipe at the downed were-coyote.

Cat watched as Scott and Liam fought two rabisu on their own and Isaac went to help Zachary and Malia. She took one of Lydia's self-igniting molotov cocktail vials off of the desk and threw it on the sidewalk. She picked up the bowl from the desk, that was full of swatches of red wool and garlic cloves and pure sea salt, and began throwing them into the fire.

She spoke with conviction. " _Enūma nēpešē ša šur-pu t[epp]ušu."_ She threw more into the fire, and watched as her friends got slashed at by the long claws of the rabisu. 

"Liam!" Malia yelled, as the rabisu who was after her, turned it's attention onto Liam. Zachary was barely fending one off by himself, and Scott and Isaac were making decent headway with one, but this was going to be a fairly quick losing battle. Cat flinched as Scott got thrown against the metal bar that had the latches for the double doors, in the middle of the frame. He fell to the ground with a thud and the rabisu swiped its skeleton-like hand towards Scott, but only hit the bar, ripping it from the door frame and tossing it behind the scuffle onto the sidewalk. 

 _"Mason, here, get in my seat... Flip this switch and push this knob forward when I give you the signal."_ Cat heard Stiles say through the phone. 

 _"What's your signal?... Stiles?!"_ Mason replied, worry oozing out of his voice.

She continued the incantation. " _My illness, my weariness, my guilt, my crime, my sin, my transgression._ _The illness that is present in my body, my flesh (and) my veins.."_ She threw another handful into the fire and watched it swell as it had something new to burn. " _Be peeled off like this garlic so that_ _The fire-god, the burner, consumes (it) today!"_ She dumped the rest of the contents in the bowl into the fire, and completed the short incantation. " _ _May the curse leave so that I may see the light!"__

 _"_ The fire swelled and Liam paused to look. The fire quickly went out, and suddenly they all realized that it didn't work. Liam screamed in agony as a rabisu pinned him to the pavement and stuck its claw straight through his shoulder. Isaac and Zachary tried to keep the rabisu's other hand from coming down and ending Liam's life. 

"GET BACK INSIDE!" Cat screamed, her eyes going silver as she tried to send out a force field to protect her friends but couldn't focus enough to get it going. 

"CAT!" Stiles came out from behind the side of the building, running on his wounded leg. He tossed his keys to Cat, who caught them and placed her magical hands on Stiles' lamassu keychain. " _MASON_!" Stiles yelled behind him, as he picked up the piece of the metal doorframe from the ground and drove it through the chest of the rabisu who was attacking Liam, Zach and Isaac. It shrieked, and turned, the metal bar turning with it, and knocking Stiles, Zach and Isaac to the ground. 

At the same exact time, Mason turned on the flood lights fixed to the top of the police SUV, and the regular brights, momentarily stunning the confused demons, and Cat summoned the lamassu from Stiles' keys. The doorway to the gym flooded with bright light and the rabisu all stalled. The lamassu emerged from Stiles' keys and pummeled one of the rabisu. Malia helped to drag Scott and Isaac inside, and Zachary managed to start dragging Liam away from the massive, ancient mythical creatures battling it out. Cat kept her grip on the keychain, as long as she was touching it, it had immense power. She grabbed Stiles by the cast and dragged him across the pavement, finally being assisted by Malia who got Stiles indoors. 

Cat dropped the keychain onto the wooden floors of the gym, and the lamassu disappeared, having done its job in helping to protect them. No longer having anything to prey on, the three rabisu disappeared back into the shadows. 

"Mason, you can turn the lights off." Stiles yelled at Cat's phone, still propped up on the chair, overlooking the slaughter that just took place. 

Everyone laid on the hard, waxed floors of the brightly lit gym, panting and checking themselves for wounds. Cat and Scott scrambled over to Liam, who just kept repeating, "AM I GONNA HAVE A HOLE IN MY ARM FOREVER?" Scott tried reassuring Liam that it would heal, as Cat wrapped a clean towel against both sides of the wound that went straight through his arm. They finally calmed Liam down, and the gym fell quiet for a few minutes. 

Isaac finally broke the silence. "Well that didn't work."


	39. The Maqlû

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Pack gathers to discuss the next plan on how to get rid of the rabisu, and Cat and Stiles discuss a potentially dangerous kink in that plan.

Stiles closed the door behind Derek and Cora as they were the last ones to come in. He waited for everyone to settle down. The whole Pack was there: Scott, Cat, Isaac, Malia, Lydia, Jordan, Derek, Cora, Ethan, Liam, Mason, Hayden, Corey, Zachary, and Allison. Theo even came into to town to help; and Peter Hale, Melissa McCall, Chris Argent, and the Sheriff were also all present. The only person with their eyes on Stiles, standing where the semi-circle of Pack members broke, was Cat. Stiles put out his hand to her. She took it and he helped her off of the floor. It was now only three days until the full moon, and the first day of August, and the Pack was running out of time to take care of the demons plaguing Beacon Hills. 

Scott raised his voice above the smaller conversations happening around the room. "Guys.... Since everyone is here, why don't we start?" Everyone focused their attention on Cat and Stiles, standing and staring out at the sea of faces. 

"So why didn't that work?" Derek asked, staring at the young witch next to Stiles. 

"There was always a chance that it wasn't going to... we knew that going in. There were two spells and we didn't know which one was correct. It turns out that the Surpu really only did work if you were the one who summoned the rabisu.." Stiles explained. 

"So what do we do now? Because they got their asses handed to them the other night," Ethan piped up and gestured towards Scott, Malia, Isaac, who were all sitting next to each other. Liam and Zachary glanced at each other from across the room. Ethan's comment, unfortunately, applied to them as well. "and frankly, I don't really want that to happen to me, just so Cat can try out another spell that may or may not work."

Cat hung her head. Logically, she understood that she did really well that night: she had done the Surpu ritual perfectly and it wasn't her fault that it didn't work. Emotionally, however, she was bearing the guilt of her friends getting hurt, and not being able to successfully rid the town of the ancient demons. 

"This wasn't Cat's fault." Scott stood up for his friend. "She did everything right, and we all knew that it might not work. That's why we did the trial run." 

"And that's why Cat and I have been figuring out how the Maqlû would work for as long as we have been working on the Surpu. We have a plan.... But this one won't have time for a trial run, we have to get this right the first time." Stiles interjected. 

"What's the new plan then?" Chris Argent asked from the back of the room, standing over the back of the couch that Allison was sitting on.

"What is the Maqlû?" Liam asked from the floor on the other side of the room, doubling down on the questions. 

"Babe?" Stiles prompted a visibly uncomfortable Cat to speak. 

She scratched the side of her head and sighed. "It's another ancient Akkadian incantation, but this one is much more involved."

"What'd your professor say about it?" Lydia asked, leaning into Parrish, who was standing with his back against the wall closest to the front door. 

Stiles pulled his iPhone out of his pocket and opened the email he had forwarded himself off of Cat's phone, from her Ancient Mesopotamia professor from Berkeley, who had been unknowingly helping them figure out how to get rid of the rabisu. "Uh... Professor Simon said... ' _The Maqlû is another 'burning series' which concerns the performance of a rather lengthy anti-witchcraft, or kišpū, ritual_.'" 

Corey cut Stiles off from continuing. "An anti-witchcraft spell? That... wouldn't that be bad for Cat?"

"It's more a spell against dark magic, from what we've read, but yea, I guess we do run the risk of hurting me as well, or something, in the process. We've talked to Deaton about it and he doesn't seem to think that it will affect me." Cat spoke up.

"How does it work?" Isaac asked.

"Well, first of all, Cora... we're going to need you to use that art degree that you're working on, again." Stiles requested the youngest Hale's help.

"More stencils?"

"No.. we assume they need to be clay but if you could make some out of wood as well, like a cedar if you can...we need small figurines of Sam Wirths." Stiles said, moving his hands a few inches apart, noting the size that they should be.

"The kid that summoned these things here?" Jordan Parrish asked, confused.

"Yea, he's not a sorcerer, _per se_ which is what the incantation calls for, but he technically used magic to summon them here so." Cat explained, pursing her lips and hoping that no one would argue with her and Stiles' logic. 

"How many do you need?" Cora asked.

"It didn't specify, so we thought twenty... one for each rabisu." Cat answered, glancing up at Stiles, her partner in crime for this plan.

"I can do that, if you give me a few days."

"We can give you until Tuesday morning." Stiles set the deadline, and Cora huffed and rolled her eyes. 

"Why Tuesday?" Melissa asked from the background. 

"The Ancient Mesopotamians had a month called ' _Abu_ ', and we are currently...  _probably,_  in it right now... It was described as 'July and August' in most of the books about Mesopotamia but it's hard to relate it exactly to our modern calendar, so with the full moon rising on August 1st.... on Tuesday night... we figured that was the best time to do it since we don't actually know when 'Abu' is, but it is specifically mentioned in the incantation as the time when it is best to perform this spell." Cat explained, trying to make as much sense as possible.

"Are you stronger on the full moon? Is that why you're doing it then?" Mason asked Cat.

"No.. well, yes, like all of you, I am definitely more powerful on a full moon, so that's a plus, but not why we're doing it that night." Cat began before Stiles cut her off.

"Uh, Cat's professor said ' _The Maqlû was performed over the course of a single night in the month of Abu when the perambulations of the spirits to and from the netherworld made them especially vulnerable to its spells_.'" He looked back up from his phone.

".....What's a perambulation?" Liam asked, looking around at the other confused faces.

"It just means that the spirits are out wandering around on a full moon." Lydia explained, and Liam slowly nodded his head.

"So this thing takes all night?" Derek asked, and Stiles nodded. 

"Okay..." Cat could feel that she was losing the Pack in the confusing semantics of the plan. "The really basic way to explain this is that the incantation will be divided into three sequences, the first of which starts when the sun goes down on Tuesday night. I will start the spell and while I'm reciting it, I have to take the figurines of Sam that Cora is going to make and burn them, then drown them in a black liquid, and then place them on the ground and crush them." Cat explained, fiddling with her hands as she talked. "I have to be outside for the last part so I'm going to need some of you on lookout."

Scott popped his head up. "Derek, Peter, Isaac, Ethan and Malia, that's going to be us."

"What's the black liquid?" Parrish asked.

"It didn't specify, so we were thinking gasoline." Stiles gestured between him and his girlfriend, before having his attention grabbed by Chris Argent. 

"I took a few jars of the black blood that came out of Cat and Gerard that night back in February and gave them to Deaton in case we ever needed it. Maybe you could use that instead since it's already magical. It'll probably be more powerful." Chris explained, in his usual husky tone. 

Stiles narrowed his eyes at the Argent patriarch and furrowed his eyebrows. "Why'd you keep that? That's disgusting."

Cat cut Stiles off. "That's a good idea. We'll take it if you're offering." Argent nodded and leaned his hands against the back of the couch once more. 

"What about the second part of the spell?" Mason inquired, getting the group back on track.

"Right, um, the second part involves all of you. I need victims, in fact, I need all of the living victims..... people who have been touched or hurt by the rabisu. Around two in the morning, when the full moon is at its apex, the destructive rites against Sam will be replaced by purification and protection rites." Cat stared back at the confused faces in the Pack, scrunched her eyes closed and scratched at her brow. She sighed, thinking of how to simplify the incantation for them to all understand. "Basically, I'm going to sort of...... drown all of you in the pool at the high school. It'll be filled with garlic and salt and herbs and wool and then... quickly set on fire....." She mumbled off on the last part. 

"I'm sorry, did you say set on fire?!" Theo asked, raising his voice. 

"What are you getting upset over? You're not even going to be in her giant.. supernatural soup!" Liam yelled at his old rival. The room began to clamor with concerned side conversations and people yelling at the young witch.

"ALRIGHT!" Stiles yelled, the room falling silent with his raised voice. "She's been practicing. It'll be fine."

Allison interjected to back up her friends. "I watched her do it in our bathtub the other night. It was done in an instant. If you just hold your breath for a few seconds under the water, you should all be fine... the water wasn't even warm afterwards." She explained, nodding with a soft smile on her lips towards her roommate. 

"I'm sorry, but so far, I am not sure why I'm here. Some of us haven't even come across these things yet, so it doesn't sound like we'll be in your plans very much." Theo piped up from the far side of the room, drawing a glare from Stiles. 

"Maybe if you shut the hell up and let her finish.." Theo rolled his eyes at Stiles, but grew quiet. 

"The last part is where I need all of you again. This part is.... unfortunately, a lot like what we did when we tried the Surpu. Basically, you all rinse off in the locker rooms, come out in clean clothes. It'll be about an hour before the sun rises at this point. We summon them with human blood on the skulls of the sacrificial goats, then I need you all to step out into the doorway and keep them occupied while I finish the spell. If even one gets away, we've failed. But the incantation is shorter this time and I'll be out there with you, so I'll try to make the last part as quick as possible."

"And then they'll be gone?" Scott clarified, a concerned look fixed on his face. Cat nodded. 

"We're pretty sure this one will work." Stiles announced, looking around to see if anyone had any further questions. No one spoke up. 

"Alright, Mason, Hayden, Lydia you're all pretty good at art so why don't you help Cora make the figurines." The three of them nodded their heads in acceptance at Scott, who had gotten up to stand at the front of the group with Cat and Stiles. "Sheriff, Parrish.."

"We'll close off the school perimeter again for Tuesday night." Sheriff Stilinski assured the Alpha. 

"I'll get the jars from Deaton." Chris affirmed his duty. 

"Thank you. Isaac, Zachary, Ethan, Corey and Malia, I need you five to drain the pool in the gym, clean it, and refill it with pure, not chlorinated water on Tuesday." 

"Sounds like a great way to spend a Tuesday." Ethan complained.

Scott ignored him. "Allison, Liam and I are going to go grocery shopping for all of the supplies, and, uh, we'll all meet back up at the gym on Tuesday afternoon." Scott said, dismissing everyone from the Pack meeting. Scott turned to Stiles and Cat, and placed his hand on Cat's shoulder, looking deep into her eyes. "Do you really think this one will work?"

Cat nodded. "Yea, I do."

"Alright, in that case, we'll all get out of here so you two can practice." Scott hugged the witch and patted his friend on the arm lightly and went to find Allison in the group of people leaving. 

Stiles pulled Cat to the side, towards the dining room and handed her her iPhone, which he had been holding for her in the pocket of his khakis. He watched as she opened it, scrolled quickly and then closed it. "Still nothing from Sylvie?" Cat sighed, seemingly upset, and shook her head, making eye contact with her boyfriend. Her worry was palpable. Stiles looked behind him and saw some of the stragglers still chatting in the living room. He pulled Cat into the kitchen, even though he knew that it wouldn't make a difference in whether or not the leftover werewolves would pick up on her anxiety-riddled chemo signals. He held his hands against her shoulders, and bent at his knees slightly to get more in her line of sight. "I'm not going to let you go through with this ritual without talking to Sylvie first."

Cat sighed, and locked eyes with Stiles. "We may not have much of a choice."

 


	40. The Abu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Pack go head-to-head with the rabisu in a dangerous attempt to once and for all rid Beacon Hills of the deadly archaic demons.

" _Just to clarify, Sylvie, you don't think that reciting the Maqlû will kill her?" Stiles asked into the speaker of Cat's phone, which was resting in his hand between the two of them as they sat up in her bed, the night before the ritual was supposed to take place._

_"No. I read what you sent me. Frankly, it sounds more like an offensive coven charm, than anything else." Sylvie Reneé Ducette, the coven witch from Louisiana who brought Allison back to life only a few months before, said through the speaker._

_"It offended you?" Stiles was confused._

_"No, an offensive charm.. like an attack spell." Cat explained quietly, rubbing her bottom lip between her thumb and index finger._

_"Oui, mon chéri. It reads as if the conjuror were still alive, then the incantation would both kill him and his demons. I don't think it will backfire and kill you... But if it does, Mieczysław knows where to find me."_

_Cat glanced over at Stiles, and exhaled from her nose, licking her lips and shaking her head. Stiles rubbed his right hand over his face, pushing his fingertips against his temple and glanced back at his girlfriend. The concern over Cat's safety in performing the Maqlû did not need to be verbalized. They were both feeling it._

_"Thank you, Sylvie. I appreciate your insight." Cat said as she rested her chin against her hand, her elbow connected with her knee._

_"De rien, Catherine Aurora. Fais attention." Sylvie spoke in her French-creole drawl._

_"Je vais." Cat spoke back in French._

_"À bientôt." Sylvie said before she hung up._

_Stiles clicked the button on the top of Cat's phone, locking the screen. "I hate when she says that. It always sounds like a threat." Cat raised her eyebrows in agreement, and chewed on her bottom lip. "What were you guys saying at the end there? I only made out 'you're welcome'." He asked._

_"She told me to 'be safe' and I said I would."_   _Stiles sighed, shook his head, and wiped his thumb against Cat's black screen. "I can see the wheels turning in your head. What are you thinking?" She asked._

_"When she brought Allison back, she said that the only reason she was doing it was because it meant Gerard was dying." Cat nodded, and Stiles continued, glancing over at Cat with his eyebrows furrowed. "So then why did she basically just offer to bring you back if something happens to you on Tuesday? Why are you important to her?"_

* * *

The Pack and those who came to pitch in were ruminating around the school, some finishing the jobs that Scott had set out for them, and some helping Cat to set up for the rituals. Melissa and Deaton set up a first aid table at the back corner of the gym, while Cat and Allison set up the table for the ritual, by the same large double doors that led to the outside from the gym, that they had used when they performed the Surpu only days before. 

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU TRAPPED THEM IN A CLASSROOM?" Cat and Allison looked over and saw Noah yelling at his son and Scott. 

"It wasn't my idea, it was Cora and Hayden." Stiles argued back. 

"We had nothing to do with it, sir." Mason said, pointing at himself and Lydia, as they all stood in between the doors to the gym and the hallway that connected it with the rest of the school.

"Some of them wouldn't come willingly, so we did what we had to to get all of them here." Cora said, nonchalantly, and uncaring of how much she pissed off the Sheriff.

"I'll go talk to them, Sheriff. I'll sort it out." Scott offered, trying to diffuse the situation. "You two, come with me." He began walking out of the gym and towards the classrooms, Cora and Hayden sulking behind their Alpha. 

"You nervous?" Allison asked, as she directed her attention back to Cat and the task that they were trying to complete before the outburst. 

Cat sighed, and pulled a large metal bowl out of the tote bag on the floor next to the table. She placed it on the ground and poured the twenty clay and twenty cedar figurines that Cora had made of Sam Wirths, the kid who summoned the rabisu to Beacon Hills in the first place, into the bowl. She looked up at Allison, who had stopped setting up and was just staring at Cat, waiting for a reply. 

She pulled a box of matches out of the bag and knocked her knuckles against the table a few times as she placed the matches down. "Yea. I'm nervous."

Allison sighed and watched as Cat went back to unloading the tote bags full of supplies on to the table. "I'm nervous too." 

Cat paused, an oversized mason jar full of the thick black blood that came from Gerard pressed between her hands. She looked up at Allison who was staring back at her with her big brown doe eyes. She placed the glass jar down on the table and glanced around the room, wondering who was listening. "I didn't even think about that, which makes me the worst friend ever."

Allison shook her head and flashed a restrained smiled, the dimples in her porcelain cheeks just barely making an appearance. "I begged Scott and my Dad to let me come today because I knew that you would need help and I've already seen you and Stiles go through the whole ritual a few times... but now that I'm here.." The uncomfortable smile resurfaced on her face. "I'm just nervous... and I hate being nervous." Allison cleared her throat and grabbed the other mason jar full of black blood out of the now empty bag. 

Cat grabbed the bag off of the floor and folded it, placing it on the bleachers. She sat down and Allison followed her. "I know Scott and your Dad would never let anything happen to you, but neither would I... I haven't wanted to say this, cause I don't know, it makes me sound petty. But I'm really sad that you and Lydia are moving in together up at Berkeley and I won't be living with you anymore. I'm going to miss having you around all of the time." 

"It's not like we won't see each other. I'm sure we'll both be at their place all the time." Allison's real smile beamed across her face as she nodded at Stiles, standing in the middle of the room talking to Liam, who was soaked and unhappy from cleaning the pool. "And I know you and Lydia aren't the best of friends, but you're still totally required to come over every Sunday so we can watch  _Game of Thrones."_

Cat bumped her shoulder against Allison's and laughed quietly. The two girls watched as Liam and Stiles approached. 

"You two okay?" Stiles asked, and watched as Cat and Allison nodded, their arms hooked around the other's. "Alright, well Liam said that Isaac is filling up the pool now. Are you two done here?"

"Um, it's just the glass bowl and the filtered water in the other bag for the end of the ceremony. Otherwise, yea, I think we laid out everything." Allison explained. 

"Alright, do you want to come with me to set up in there then?" Stiles asked, and the girls nodded again. Allison followed Liam towards the indoor pool on the other side of the gym, and Stiles stopped Cat from following. "Are you two really okay?"

"Yea, just nervous, but it's fine." Stiles nodded and leaned in to kiss Cat softly on the lips, then turned to walk off after Allison and Liam. "Hey!" Cat grabbed Stiles' now somewhat grungy, blue and orange cast on his left wrist, and jerked him back towards her. "I love you. I wouldn't have been able to do any of this without you. I know that you have been feeling shitty about taking me away from New York and my internship and magic practice with my Dad this summer, but I learned so much magic that he never would have been able to teach me, with you this month. If today is a success, it's because I have you and everyone else by my side. You all make me a better witch, and you, Stiles Stilinski, make me a braver person." She reached up, letting the stubble on his face and jaw graze her palm, and placed her hand against his cheek. She stared into his chocolate brown eyes and smiled. "I don't regret a single moment of this summer with you. I wouldn't change any of it." She kissed him softly. 

"I needed to hear that so badly, you don't even know." Stiles whispered, a smile spreading across his lips that she could feel against her cheek. He enveloped her in a hug and leaned over to kiss her repeatedly on the cheek. "I love you so much, Catherine Gauthier." 

* * *

 

 Everyone, with the exception of Deaton, Scott, Allison, Stiles and Cat, sat on the bleachers and watched as the sun went down at 8:33PM. It filled the gym with soft hues of pink and orange and then quickly faded to black. Scott walked over and flipped the fluourescent overhead lights on. The room was silent except for the buzzing coming from the lamps warming up above. Cat took a deep breath and stepped up to the table. 

" _O Shamash, these are the figurines of my sorcerer._ " She said aloud, lifting the bowl full of tiny clay and cedar Sam Wirths lookalikes as an offering to the Akkadian sun god. She placed the bowl back on the table and cracked her neck. Stiles could tell how stressed she was, but watched as she continued. " _Pure oven, great daughter of Anu, inside whom the fire of the grave is flaring, inside whom the valiant fire-god has taken up residence, [whose] flames have reached the sky [...], burn,"_  Allison handed Cat the box of matches on the table. Cat opened the box, took out a matchstick, struck it against the ignitor and watched as the flame burst into existence. _"Set alight, incinerate my witch!"_  She dropped the match in the metal bowl. She lit two more and dropped them in as well. She watched as the clay figurines baked from the heat and the wooden ones began to turn to charcoal.

She glanced at Stiles; the line that they had been so concerned with was next. He leaned his hands against the edge of the table, the smell of smoke filling his flared nostrils. He was terrified. He exhaled through his nose and looked up at Scott. "Alright, Scott, you guys are up."

"Derek, Peter, Isaac, Ethan, Malia....." Scott called out their names and watched them step down the bleachers and approach the table. Cat picked up the bowl from the bottom, the fire had gone out and it was time for the most dangerous part of the first sequence. She and the group walked towards the open doors leading outside and paused. "Malia, you're helping her crush them." Scott directed. Malia nodded once.

They all stepped out and Cat quickly dumped the contents of the bowl onto the pavement. She and Malia began frantically stomping on the charred figurines, their fragile bodies disintegrating under their feet, while Scott, Derek, Peter, Isaac and Ethan all circled around them, waiting for a rabisu to show up to fight.

Stiles watched as she pressed her tongue against her lips and continued.  _"May my warlock's and witch's life swiftly, quickly come to an end!_ " She said as she and Malia stomped out the last figurines.

"Nothing happened... the rabisu haven't even shown up." Stiles said quietly as he and Deaton stood a length away from the rest of the group inside, who had all gotten off the bleachers to watch by the doors.

Deaton glanced over at Stiles, then turned his attention back to Cat and Malia shining their flashlights on the ground to see if they had sufficiently destroyed all of the small ephigies. "The rabisu may know what she is doing and feel threatened. This kind of magic does not go unnoticed. They may realize that she cannot destroy them if they are not show up." Deaton said in his usual wise tone.

"Unless they're summoned." Stiles added, watching the group safely walk back inside. Deaton glanced over to Stiles and nodded slightly. 

It was 10:26PM, and they had hours before the next sequence was to begin. The Pack was milling about the school doing their own things to kill time until the moon reached its fullest around 2AM. Stiles was talking to the Sheriff and the other adults, and Cat was sitting on the waxed hardwood floors of the gym, her back leaning up against one of the legs of the table. She was staring out into the parking lot; the entire outside almost as bright as inside because of a clear sky and a very full moon. Scott and Isaac sat on either side of her. 

Cat looked at them as they sat next to her and she laughed softly to herself and smiled. "Hey.. what's up?" 

"Scott wanted to check on you, I thought I'd tag along." Isaac told her nonchalantly. 

Cat grinned. "Oh admit it. You were worried about me too, Lahey." 

Isaac shrugged and smiled. The people that Cat had felt closest to besides Stiles were definitely Scott and Allison and Isaac. They were genuinely more than just her boyfriend's friends. They were her friends too. "Tonight is weird." Isaac stated. 

"You feeling okay, Isaac?" Scott asked, craning his neck forward to see around Cat.

"A little juiced, you know? I was ready to fight some demons... again."

"I know what you mean." Cat echoed Isaac's sentiments. She lifted her hands on top of her lap, her palms facing up and showed the two werewolves how effortlessly two round silver sparks began to form into orbs that if she let continue, would turn into a particularly strong force field. "The Mesopotamians clearly knew how to pick a magical night." Cat joked, referring to Abu. She closed her hands and the silver glow disappeared. 

"You know what we should do tomorrow night when all of this is over?" Scott asked his friends. Isaac nodded, wondering what Scott wanted to do with their first night of freedom that summer. "We should get Mexican food."

"Oh, I love Mexican." Isaac grinned, and Cat laughed. 

 

* * *

 

It was close to 1:30AM and Scott ferried all of the living victims of rabisu attacks into the pool. He had explained to all of the people that Cora and Hayden had rounded up and trapped in a classroom, including Coach Finstock, the truth about what had attacked them and what was happening that night. They all agreed to participate willingly, all wanting to rabisu gone from Beacon Hills. Cat kept a close eye on Stiles, who was treading water near the Sheriff, and Scott. Isaac, Cora, Zachary, Ethan, Liam, Malia and Parrish were also in the pool. Twenty-seven living victims bobbed up and down in the water and Cat only watched Stiles as she walked around the pool, full of clean drinking water, tossing her mixture of garlic, herbs, flowers, salt and wool in around them. 

She began the incantation as the hour drew near. She got on her knees on the side of the pool, the cement conforming to her taut skin, and placed the palms of her hands against the water. She closed her eyes and began to speak. " _O Enki, God of Creation and Water, of Magic and Mischief. I call on you from the star of Ea to wash away the flames and the stench. Creator of all but your kin, purify and protect those you call sons and daughters. May they be victims no more to your creations._ " She paused. 

"Alright, take a deep breath and when she says 'peeled', go deep under the water and stay down for at least twenty seconds." Stiles yelled to everyone around him, treading water in the pool. 

Cat continued, the water around her hands faintly glowing silver as she lost herself in the words of the incantation. " _The place, after Enki is clean, that place is bright. Let the tears fall from your face and cleanse them with fire and water, make them anew. May their spells be"_  Allison walked over and handed Cat a lit match, and Cat continued. _"… peeled away like garlic!"_ She said the words and dropped the single match into the water. The surface of the pool was engulfed in a massive blue flame that was gone as quickly as it came, simmered orange for a brief moment, and then disappeared altogether. 

Cat watched as Stiles and the Pack members surfaced first, then glanced around and saw the rest of the heads of the survivors bob up from under the water. She leaned her chest against the tops of her thighs and leaned her head into her hands, the backs of which were resting against the wet cement. She let out a sigh of relief and watched as everyone began making their way out of the pool. 

* * *

 

The moon began to disappear behind the trees and the earth began to glow a subtle dark blue, as Cat watched the last of the people who had been in the pool emerge from the locker rooms, clean and in fresh clothes. It was 4:45AM and the sun was rising at 5:39AM. She sighed and looked at the row of small knives sitting on the table next to her. Liam, Corey and Mason were lining the goat skulls up just on the inside of the double doors. They were preparing to summon the rabisu and help Cat finish the last sequence of the Maqlû and finally destroy the ancient demons of the night. 

Mason, Deaton, Allison, Chris, Melissa, Noah, Stiles and Cat stepped up to the table and grabbed a knife. They each cut the palms of their left hands and smeared their mortal blood on the twenty goat skulls. The Liam, Isaac, Ethan, Corey and Scott then began shoving the skulls out onto the pavement, summoning the rabisu to the high school. As they were doing this, Cat poured the clean, purified, filtered water into the glass bowl and walked up to the doorway.

It was 5:29: ten minutes until the sun rose in the sky, marking a new day in Beacon Hills. She stood next to her supernatural friends and waited. When the rabisu began to appear en masse, Parrish, Hayden, Cora, Zachary, Malia, Derek and Peter, all stepped up next to Scott, Cat, Liam, Isaac, Ethan and Corey. They all stepped out together and began fighting the rabisu, who were rabidly trying to get to Cat in the center of them all. 

She began her final incantation, trying to block out the shrieks from the creatures and the painful cries of her friends. "O Nuksu, the protective night light, I envoke you and your terrestrial fire to call your children back to you in the depths of the night sky, never to return. O Shamash, this is my ritual plea, savior and creator, bring salvation from the night to us with your warm glow." 

"CAT!" Stiles screamed from the inside. "No, Dad, let me go!"

Cat lurched forward and felt a sharp pain spread across her back. She ignored it. She splashed the clean water onto her face, and then knelt over the bowl, finding her moment of recognition. "You are my reflection ... You are mine, and I am yours. May nobody know you, may no evil approach you!"

Cat looked up as she heard the shrieking cries of twenty rabisu suddenly being bound to the earth by her magic. The Pack, beaten and wounded, closed ranks around the kneeling witch, and they all watched as the sun rose, as twenty ancient demons suddenly began to turn into embers that blew away in the morning breeze. 

The last thing Cat remembered seeing was the beautiful mixture of the orange and yellow morning sunrise, juxtaposed with the burning and disappearing black aura that floated around the rabisu. 

 


	41. The Jeep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Days after ridding the town of the rabisu, Stiles takes Cat out to lunch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a smutty little chapter. enjoy.

"Excuse me, could you tell me where Cat Gauthier is?" 

"She is down the hall, second door on your left." 

"Thanks." Stiles lightly tapped the counter and smiled at the woman who gave him directions. He walked down the hall, and saw Cat. He lightly knocked on the door, leaned against the doorframe, sunk his hands into his jeans pockets and licked his lips. 

Cat turned around and grinned. "What are you doing here?" She smiled, getting up from her desk, and walking over to him to give him a kiss. 

"I thought I'd take you out to lunch..?" He sheepishly grinned. 

"Oh, baby, I don't know, I'm swamped..." She frowned and then perked up when she heard a booming voice coming down the hall in her direction. 

"Cat... do you have that memo finished?" 

Cat went back to her desk and pulled a stack of papers from her printer. "Just finished them, Mayor Chandler. Here." She handed the pile off to the tall, beautiful black woman who stood in the doorway next to Stiles. 

"Who is this? Someone who voted for me, I hope." Mayor Chandler looked Stiles up and down. "Oh wait.. I know you.. you're Noah's son."

"Stiles, Madam Mayor." Stiles stuck his hand out to shake hers. "And I absolutely voted for you. My dad and I both did."

"Is this your boyfriend, Cat?" 

"Yes, ma'am." Cat said, a bashful smile forming on her face. "And he was just leaving since I still have my exit interview to prepare for tomorrow." 

"What'd you stop by for, Stilinski?" The Mayor asked, her smile lighting up the whole room. 

"I came to see if I could take Cat to lunch to celebrate her finishing her internship here, but she's busy so.."

"Nonsense. Taylor can finish any loose ends that Cat has left, she has been such an asset to this team, please. Go to lunch with your boyfriend, Gauthier. Live a little." 

Cat laughed. She was going to miss her last minute internship with the Mayor of Beacon Hills. "Are you sure, ma'am? I don't want to abandon you all on my second to last day."

"Go before I change my mind." She said, waving her hand in the air, as she walked back to her office with the stack of papers she needed from Cat.

"Let's go.." Stiles said with a grin.

* * *

 

Cat moved her salad around with her fork and looked up at Stiles, who was scarfing down a spicy chicken sandwich. "Are you sure that I can't fly everyone out to New York for the week? I mean, we all deserve it after this summer, and I have enough beds and couches and blow-up mattresses to fit everyone comfortably."

Stiles wiped his mouth with his napkin and took a swig of his root beer. "Yea... I don't know, I know we'll be spending time with your friends, and I'm really excited for that, but I also just want to spend some time with you without the entire Pack being present.. if that's okay."

Cat smiled, she could not argue with that desire. "Okay, maybe another time. But I do want to do something nice and relaxing with the whole pack after this shitshow of a summer. " 

"Maybe we could rent a cabin or something for Spring Break?" Stiles suggested, pausing from his food.

"Or we could do like a cabin at Lake Tahoe or Yosemite or something for that long weekend in October?"

"That'd be cool." Stiles nodded and went back to eating. "So what are we doing while we're out in New York?"

"Met's game, my mom got the three of us tickets to see Hamilton, I thought we could do some sight-seeing and hang out with my friends? What skyscraper do you want to see?" Cat asked as she shoved a fork full of lettuce, avocado, bacon and chicken into her mouth. 

Stiles smirked. He loved how she wasn't a girl who minded eating sloppily in front of her boyfriend. "Well, I went to the Empire State Building with my parents as a kid, so maybe the new World Trade Center?" Cat nodded and smiled, picking up her phone and adding that to the rough itinerary she had in her Notes. "Are we still going up to Boston to see Jamie?"

Cat shook her head. The previous schedule for Stiles' visit to New York had him there for almost two weeks, and Cat wanted to drive up to Boston so that Stiles could meet one of her best friends, a young Asian guy named Jamie; but this shortened trip did not have the time for that pit stop. "No.. As much as I want you to meet Jamie, and as much as I wanted to go to Salem and see the Witch Trial museum and all of that stuff about my ancestors, I just don't think we have the time, plus our plane tickets are out of JFK so, it just wouldn't make sense."

"Maybe we can go next Summer?" Stiles offered, and Cat nodded with a smile. "Are we seeing your Dad and sister?"

Cat put her fork down against the side of her bowl and leaned back in her chair. "Yea... You know how I told you that Margot got engaged a couple of weeks ago?" Stiles nodded. "Well, my Dad thinks that Rich, her fiancé, will be able to bridge the gap between us." She pushed her fingers together and spoke sarcastically. "I don't want to waste one of our nights but he pays my rent so what are we going to do?" She asked, rhetorically. 

"It's just one dinner, and I'll be there to back you up." Stiles reminded her. 

Cat smiled halfheartedly. She knew that Stiles was right but it didn't make her any more excited about having to her estranged older sister. She sighed and pushed her food towards the middle of the table, indicating her loss of appetite over the unfortunate topic. "Thanks for taking me out to lunch, baby. I think every girl dreams about dating a girl thoughtful enough to want to come to her work and convince her boss to let her leave for lunch." Cat joked, leaning forward and sliding her hand under the table to touch Stiles knee. 

Stiles grinned as he glanced down Cat's white button-up shirt and saw her wearing the lacy black bra that he loved when she wore. "Did I tell you how sexy you look today in your little skirt and heels?"

Cat grinned back, licking her lips as she climbed her fingers as far up his thigh as the table would permit her. "You did not tell me." 

Stiles closed his eyes and smiled, shaking his head. He bit against his top lip and slid his hand on top of Cat's. "I can't believe I have to take you back to your internship right now."

"Have you ever had sex in the Jeep?" She said, teasingly. 

Stiles' eyes snapped open and he looked at Cat. "Let's go now."

Cat laughed and allowed Stiles to grab her hand and pull her out of the restaurant running. "Where can we even go? It's the middle of the day. Someone is going to see us having sex in your car."

"Nope. There is an abandoned shopping centre a mile away from the Mayor's office. That back parking lot would be empty." Stiles closed the door to the driver's side of the Jeep and turned the key in the ignition, backed out of his spot, and began hurriedly driving towards the edge of town. 

Cat grinned and squirmed in her seat, adrenaline and arousal filling her body as Stiles drove fast down the service road along Beacon Hills Preserve. "Can't we just stop in the Preserve? Isn't that where like everyone else goes to make out and have sex?" She asked as she reached over and pawed at his denim-clad thighs. 

Stiles had to try very hard to keep his attention focused on the road in front of him and not the throbbing erection that was growing in his pants. "Yes, and that's why the cops patrol there."

Cat let out a disappointed growl. "How long until?"

"Ten minutes? Probably less." 

Cat sighed and stared blankly at Stiles for a minute. "Nope. Hands at the top of the steering wheel." She said as she unbuckled her seatbelt, leaned over Stiles' police scanner, accidentally turning it off, and unzipped his jeans. 

"Oh my god, this is like porn... this is better than porn.. this is happening. Oh my god." Stiles rambled, pushed his hands in front of her face, while driving with his knee, and unbuttoned his pants, pulling them down enough for his long and thick cock to emerge in his lap. 

Cat looked at the red plaid cotton elastic under his penis and glanced up at him, surprised he was wearing boxers and not the boxer briefs that he had grown accustomed to wearing. "Laundry day?" She asked with a smirk.

"Yes, I know I said I wouldn't leave it off until the day before we left but clearly I had better things to do..." Stiles gestured down to her.

Cat laughed and licked her lips. Stiles braced his left hand on the top of the steering wheel and his right hand rested on her back. Cat went straight for it, her own wild hormones not allowing her to tease her intensely aroused boyfriend. She licked her lips and wrapped them around the head of his cock. Stiles let out a soft moan, which ignited a raging fire deep inside of Cat. She lifted her head, spit on the tip of Stiles' dick, spread it down his shaft with her fingers, and began stroking him roughly. She felt the car swerve a little when she wrapped her lips around him once more. 

She stopped, sat up on her knees in her seat and looked at Stiles. "Baby, if you kill us, then neither of us will get to enjoy me giving you road head."

"I know, I know, I'm fucking trying. I swear. Now just..." Stiles put his hand on her back, and coaxed her back towards his lap. She spit on the tip again, wrapping her delicate fingers around him and spreading it down his shaft once more. "Oh fucking god." Stiles snaked his hand down her back and under the waist of her skirt. He heard a seam rip as the muscles in his forearm flexed when he grabbed a fistful of her ass. He'd buy her a new skirt, he thought to himself. 

Cat swirled her tongue around his tip, flicking the tip against his slit and tasting the precum that began to slip out. She moaned loudly at the taste of him and he shuttered at the vibration. She reached her hand down and began to massage his balls, as she began a fast and deep rhythm on his length with her mouth. Stiles swerved again and Cat stopped, and breathed out in annoyance from her nostrils. 

"Sorry, sorry... I'm sorry." 

Cat smirked to the best of her ability while her mouth was full of his cock and rolled her eyes. If she was going to die, was this really the worst way to go? She brought her tongue to the roof of her mouth, blocking off access to her throat, and let the tip of Stiles' erection hit the back of her soft and wet tongue, mimicking the feeling of him hitting the back of her throat. She was testing him. He moaned loudly and grabbed at her flesh; more seams ripping as he did, but he did not swerve. She granted him access. She removed her tongue and took his dick all the way into her mouth. He was too big, she could never take all of him in her but she got close. Her nose was just barely grazing his thigh as he hit the back of her throat and she gagged, the vibration sending a shockwave through his body. 

"Fucking..." He mumbled, as he removed his hand from her skirt and brought it to her neck. He forced Cat back down on his cock and heard her gag again. She wasn't giving him the tap out, signaling that it was too much, so he kept pushing. He spasmed at the warm and wet feeling enveloping his member and shut his eyes for a brief moment. "Shit." He opened them and saw the turnoff for the abandoned shopping centre. Stiles swerved to make a left into the empty parking lot, Cat hitting her head on steering wheel as he went, and whining. "Sorry, baby." Stiles contorted his face and rubbed the back of her head, feeling badly that he hurt her. "Baby, get up, get up. We're here." 

Cat leapt into the backseat of the Jeep that they had been in together a hundred times before and watched as Stiles threw Roscoe into 'Park', turned off the ignition and tucked himself back into his boxer briefs. He struggled to get his seatbelt off and to then get over the console and police scanner that separated the front and back seats. Cat moved her hands up to protect herself as he stumbled into the back and looked over with a smirk as he finally sat next to her with a relieved sigh. 

"You are such a spazz." She grinned and shook her head. 

"You love it. Come here." Stiles grabbed for her hips and pulled her on top of him. 

Cat pulled at the bottom of her tight, black pencil skirt, hiking it up over her ass so that she could properly straddle him. Stiles pulled his boxers and pants down his thighs again and looked up, her breasts were right in his face. Stiles rolled his head slightly and looked up at her. "This is the best fucking day of my life." He quickly fumbled with the buttons on her white shirt and unveiled the lacy black bra that he had gotten a glimpse of earlier. He pressed his strong, sinewy hands against her back, pushing her close to him, and he buried his face into her chest. He sucked and licked and kissed at her collarbones and the valley of her breasts and then buried his face against her warm skin. He closed his eyes and rubbed his cheeks and sweet upturned nose against her soft and heaving bust.

"God, I love you." He said into her skin.

Cat smiled, grabbed his head by his hair, yanked him back and kissed him on the lips. Stiles brought his hands up to her cheeks, then slowly dragged them down her neck, to her breasts. He pulled at the delicate fabric on her bra, revealing a hard nipple underneath. He was delighted by the sight and took it in between his teeth, holding it as he flicked his tongue against it, his other hand massaging her other breast. Cat moaned and squirmed. She pushed him back against the seat, unable to continue being patient, and looked down. She reached her fingers on her left hand down to move the wet fabric away from her opening, and reached her right hand down to grip the shaft of Stiles' erect penis. She lined herself up and lowered herself down.

"Yesssss." She hissed, throwing her head back and bracing her hands against the roof of the car. 

"Oh fuck, baby." Stiles loved when she took charge. He thought it was sexy that she knew what she wanted and she wasn't ever afraid to ask him for it or just take it for herself. 

He bit his lip as he watched her bouncing on top of his cock, her tits bouncing along with her rhythm. Stiles placed his hands against her hips and thrust up into her, his knees hitting the driver's seat in front of him. She screamed at the depth. She leaned back, a devilish smile curling across her lips, and she pushed herself down onto him. Stiles moaned as she then began forming figure-eights with her hips, gyrating with him deep inside of her. Stiles leaned his head back against the seat and closed his eyes. He knew he was close. He hated coming without her though. Ever since the first real orgasm he had given her, he was hooked on the sounds, the faces, and the feeling of her body reeling from the climax. 

He rubbed his hand against his face and tried to focus on not coming, but she continued her thrusts. Stiles licked his fingers, reached down, pulled the bottom of her skirt up and began rubbing vigorously against her clit. Cat furrowed her brow, licked her lips, and slowed, bracing her hands against his shoulders. Stiles knew he had her. He smirked and leaned up to kiss her. "Tell me when you're getting close, baby." He whispered. She bit hard against her bottom lip and nodded, her forehead wrinkled and her eyes pained at the intense pleasure. 

Stiles licked his fingertips again, and then reconnected them with her enlarged bud. He moved his hand as fast as he could, his fingers blurring together as he rubbed. Cat dug her fingers into his shoulders, through his shirt. Then banged her palm against the metal roof. "Fuck.. fuck." She yelled. Stiles took that as his cue. He kept rubbing and finally, she unraveled. She grabbed at his hand and squeezed his wrist as she opened her mouth but no sound came out. Her stomach and legs shook and she involuntarily ground her body down hard against Stiles' cock, squeezing her walls tightly around him. 

She came to quickly and began gyrating against him again. Stiles moaned and bucked his hips upwards, hitting the end of her pussy each time he did. She yelped with each thrust, and Stiles felt the tension about to release. One final thrust, and the vision of her hand snaking it's way over her shirt, and onto her skin to massage her breast, and Stiles came undone. Cat sighed and moaned. This was her favorite part. She leaned forward and connected her forehead with his.

Stiles sighed, and thrust up one last time; the last of his juices filling her tight pussy. He pulled at the collar of his green flannel and wiped his forehead of sweat. Then he snaked his hands around her waist and pulled her close to him. She kissed above his ear and leaned her head against the seatback.

"Am I going to be late for work?" She asked, after a few minutes of silence, still holding him with his cock inside of her. 

Stiles rubbed her back affectionately and glanced the clock on his dashboard. "We haven't even been gone an hour if you can believe it." 

"The epitome of a quickie." She laughed. 

"Baby, how's your back?" 

Cat glanced behind her, as if she could see the healed wounds on her back through her shirt. "Fine. I don't even have a scar."

Stiles leaned forward and kissed lightly at the valley of her breasts, then leaned his forehead against them. "That was not fun." 

Cat jerked her body back and looked at him with shock. "THE SEX?" 

"NO. THAT was amazing. Really fucking hot. Literally all of it.. I was talking about the other night with the.." Stiles swiped his fingers in front of Cat's face. "the claws.." 

Cat laughed, calming down from the misunderstanding, and gripped his face in her hands. "I know. I didn't really enjoy that either but clearly I'm okay." She placed a light kiss on his upturned nose. 

"I still can't believe how deep it looked like it went and how fine you were." 

Cat shook her head and frowned slightly. "I know, but I still don't even think I passed out because of that I think I was just drained from the magic."

"Hello? Stiles?" A voice came from outside of the car.

"What the f-" Stiles turned his head to look out the window.

"OH MY GOD. IT'S PARRISH." Cat said, her eyes widening exponentially, as she watched the deputy approached from the back of Stiles' parked Jeep.

"Fuck." Stiles glanced around and saw Cat's tits hanging out. He quickly grabbed at her shirt, and clasped it closed with his hands.

"Oh no. Oh my god. I am so sorry." Parrish said as he looked through the window and saw the couple in their compromising position. He turned on his heels and walked back to the patrol car. 

"Fucking hell..." Stiles mumbled as Cat climbed off of him, adjusting her panties back into place and pulling her skirt back down. Stiles tucked his flaccid penis back into his boxers and zipped up his pants back around his waist. He reached down and pushed the passenger seat forward, and watched as Cat climbed out of the car, still buttoning her shirt back up and readjusting herself in her bra. She grabbed her black pumps off the floor of the front seat and alternated balancing on one leg as she put them both on. She reached in the glove box and grabbed the tissues to clean herself up from Stiles' dripping cum, looked around and decided to just crumple the wet and sticky napkin in her hand. She heard Stiles talking to Parrish on the other side of the car. 

"Dude, the dash cam definitely caught all of this." Stiles said, his hands flying in the air and then smacking against his sides.

"I promise your Dad won't see it." Parrish replied, the guilt evident in his voice. 

"How did you even... what are you doing here?" Stiles asked, exasperated. 

"I saw your car when I was passing by on patrol and I thought that it was weird that it was here, but now I get why... Stiles, I am so sorry. I didn't see anything." Parrish tried to reassure him. 

Cat emerged from behind the car, a permanent blush settled on her cheeks. "You didn't call it in or anything, did you?"

"Yea.... I did. I asked dispatch if the Sheriff knew where you were." Parrish told them, grimacing. 

"What the hell? Why didn't I hear it?" Stiles ran over to his car, opened his door, and saw the light turned off on his police radio. He sighed and slammed his hand against the frame. "It was off. Of course, it was off."

"I'll just come up with an excuse. It'll be fine." 

"I have to get back to the Mayor's office. Just tell the Sheriff that Stiles had taken me to lunch, and pulled over to text me back after dropping me off or that my phone had fallen under the passenger seat and he pulled over to grab it or something and that's why he was here."

Stiles and Parrish looked at her with surprise and nodded. "You've made this kind of excuse before..." Stiles narrowed his eyes at Cat.

Cat glared at Stiles and then smirked. "Get in the fucking car, huh?" Stiles laughed and nodded. 

"Welp, hopefully we never do this again, Parrish." Stiles said as he walked towards the driver's side door. 

"Yea, this can stay between the three of us.... oh and uh, have fun in New York."

"Thanks, Jordan." Cat said as she walked around the back of Roscoe to get inside. 

Stiles leaned his head against the steering wheel and growled in frustration. Cat closed the door and looked over, smiling softly and gently massaging the back of his head. "It could've been worse. It could've been your Dad." 

Stiles let out a yelp in reply, and Cat laughed. "What's in your hand?" Stiles asked, glancing over at his girlfriend. 

"A cum filled napkin." She replied nonchalantly.

Stiles burst out in laughter and started the car, backing up and pulling back out onto the road to take Cat back to her internship.

 


	42. The New York Trip (Part I)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat and Stiles begin their shortened trip back to New York for Cat with a Mets game, before heading back to Berkeley for the new school year.

Stiles glanced over at Cat, her nose pressed lightly against the window and a massive smile stayed permanent on her face. She tugged the sleeves of Stiles' gray sweatshirt over her hands, and pressed them against her face, softly gnawing on the end of the left sleeve. Stiles smiled and placed his hand on her knee. She looked over at him and wiped at her cheek. 

"Baby, are you crying right now?" 

Cat smiled and shook her head. "I'm being a huge baby. Ignore me." She picked his hand up off of her knee and placed it against her lips, kissing his fingers softly. 

"What's wrong?" Stiles asked her, ignoring her request to ignore her. 

"Literally nothing. Look... look." She pointed out the window and Stiles leaned over her to see. The New York City skyline grew up from the ground as the clouds parted and the plane began its descent. "I am so happy right now, it's not even funny." She whispered, with a massive grin on her face. 

"So happy tears?" Stiles' frown slowly turned into a smile, as she nodded and leaned forward to kiss him. 

"I am so happy to be home. I am so happy you're with me. I am so excited to see my mom and my friends and the Met... _and the Met's_. I could literally just burst, I am so happy right now." She listed off what was making her so emotional. "Oh my god, and pizza, Stiles, pizza."

Stiles smiled and felt his heart swell and his chest tighten. Her excitement was rubbing off on him. He loved seeing her so happy. "So we're seeing Hamilton tonight with your Mom, right?" He asked, as he watched Cat taking pictures of the city, and editing them on her phone. 

"Yes, and then tomorrow we have all day to ourselves to do whatever, and then the next day is the Met's game and hanging out with my friends." 

Stiles nodded and felt the wheels of the plane make contact with the runway. A massive smile spread across Cat's face and Stiles laughed, leaning in to kiss her hard. "Oh my god, someone needs to let you off this fucking plane already." Cat laughed and hid the bottom of her face in Stiles' sweatshirt, trying to physically contain her excitement. 

* * *

"Um... _fuck_. I am so stupid... Um, let's just take a taxi in or an Uber or something." Cat said as her and Stiles stood at the bottom of the long and winding ramp up to the Forest Hills Long Island Railroad station, pulling at his arm to come away from the spot they were standing in. 

Stiles shook his head. "No, no... it's okay. This is ridiculous.. We're in New York right now and we live next to San Francisco, so, what am I, like, never going to use a train ever again?" Stiles rubbed his face, squinting up at the sun as he opened his eyes. He pulled his blue Met's cap off, smoothed his hair back and placed his hat back on his head. He walked up the ramp, Cat trailing closely behind, and made it to the top. "Um, do we need tickets?" He asked, trying to focus on anything but the rail bed below the platform.

"No, I have them already." Cat looked at his face and grasped onto Stiles' hand. "You freaking out right now?"

"Is the sun shining?" Stiles said sarcastically, unable to hide his frustration. Cat glanced up at the bright sky, then hung her head, immense guilt filling her body. Stiles sighed, not even catching her saddened demeanor. "Logically, I know that there are not going to be Ghost Riders about to take one of us away, but every other part of my brain is in absolute panic mode right now." Stiles admitted, grasping at the buttons on his Mike Piazza Met's jersey, as he watched the large metal train begin to approach the station. 

" _Next Stop: Woodside_." The automated announcer said over the speakers, as Cat and Stiles stood in the vestibule of the packed train. 

"Everyone on here is a Met's fan. Is the stadium our next stop?" Stiles asked, hopeful that he'd be getting off of the train soon. 

Cat looked up at him and shook her head, a frown remaining on her face since they left the station. "We get off at Woodside and then get on another train, and then it's like one stop until Willets Point, which is the stadium." She explained, wrapping her arms tighter against Stiles, who had his back leaning up against a wall. "Hey..." Stiles glanced down at her, his breathing increasing and the panic rising. "Hey... here..." She pulled Stiles' hand off of her back and placed it against her chest, inside of the blue shirt she was wearing. She flattened his palm against her skin and breathed deeply. "Try to match my breathing with yours, okay?" 

Stiles nodded. "Okay." He inhaled when she did and exhaled when she did and soon heard the 'bing-bong' indicating that they were stopping at a station. "Can we just get off already?"

Cat nodded and contorted her face in a frown as she led Stiles off of the train. "Sti, let's just go get a cab. This was a good first step. Let's not push it."

Stiles squatted on the platform, his head in his hands, the early stages of a panic attack forming in his chest. Cat leaned over and placed her hand on his back. "No... no, this is so fucking stupid. It doesn't even remotely look like the station I was trapped in with Peter.. there weren't even actual trains there!" He got up and raised his voice. Cat stood in front of him, staring blankly, and letting him take out his fears on her. "We're going out to the Hamptons to have dinner with your Dad and Margot tomorrow night, right?" 

"Yes."

"And the easiest way to get out there is by train, right?"

"Yea, but Sti, it's like a two hour train.. we'll just borrow my mom's car. It'll be fine."

"No, this is just stupid. Let's get on the train and get to Citifield. It'll be fine. I have you. It'll be fine." He grabbed her hand and pulled her up the stairs, to go across the elevated walkway to get to a different platform. 

* * *

Cat glanced up at Stiles, staring at the dirty pavement beneath his feet and rubbing his face with his free hand, as they walked from the train station to Citifield. Cat felt awkward and uncomfortable and upset because that was how Stiles was feeling. He had shut down, internally, unable to get a full grasp on his anxiety over the trains and the horrible memories it brought back of the Ghost Riders and the beginning of his relationship with Lydia and thinking that he would be stuck in purgatory with Peter Hale for the rest of his life. He barely felt it when Cat let go of his hand and stopped walking beside him. He walked a few steps without her before he realized that she was no longer by his side. He stopped and glanced above the sea of people all walking around him to get to the game, in order to find her. He did. 

"What are you doing?" Stiles asked, annoyed at her disappearing act, when he finally tracked her down on the edge of the sidewalk. 

"I don't know what to do right now. Your head is anywhere but present in this moment, and I'm sorry that I forgot about the Ghost Riders and the trains, but you're about to meet all of my friends, and I get that that is probably making you anxious too, but I want them to like you and I don't know if we should leave and try this another time with them or.." 

Stiles cut her off. "Your friends will be pissed if you tell them we aren't coming. They'll probably think we had a fight or we aren't getting along and-"

"Well, we aren't getting along right now, Stiles!" She interrupted him, slightly raising her voice, and then lowering it as she saw them getting looks from passerbys. "I don't know what to do. I was so looking forward to this, you were supposed to be having fun.."

Stiles felt both guilty and angry. "Let's just go inside and get some food and try to have a good time. Okay?" She nodded and Stiles turned and started walking towards the stadium again. She raised her hands in frustration and then dropped them to her sides. How was she supposed to try to have a good time when Stiles wouldn't even hold her hand. She begrudgingly follow after him. 

* * *

"Okay, this is pretty fucking good... like maybe even In-N-Out good. Maybe." Stiles leaned over to say to her, while chewing his double Smokeshack burger obnoxiously loud in her ear. She fake smiled at him and went back to talking to her friend's Lau and Ellie, slightly turning her back towards Stiles. 

Stiles shrugged. He knew she was a little upart but usually with some time, she got over these things. He on the other hand, was feeling significantly better. He was in a place that he was in love with, watching his favorite team of all time play the Phillies. All of the train-troubles and Ghost Rider memories were worth it to be there in that moment.

The food was also helping. He got some gingerale and a burger and some cheese fries, and his stomach was filling up. He realized that part of his mood may have been because he was a bit hungry. He crumpled up the empty paper wrapper that the burger was in and threw it in the brown paper Shake Shack bag by his feet. He whipped his head to the left when he heard his name.

"So, Stiles, are you from California?"

Stiles washed down a fry with his soda and nodded. "Mmm, yea, yes. Born and raised. You're all New Yorkers, right?" Stiles asked and the guys sitting next to him nodded. 

"If you're from California, how are you such a massive Mets fan? You have, like, four teams out there, why the Mets?" Cat's best guy friend from home, John, asked. 

"Because the Mets are the best." Her friend, Andy, interjected arrogantly.

"They are the worst and you know it." John, an avid Yankees fan like Cat, retorted, narrowing his eyes and shaking his head at Andy's remark.

"Oh shut the fuck up. They're winning right now!"

"IT'S ONE, NOTHING, ANDY, AND THE PHILLIES ARE SOMEHOW A WORSE TEAM. THIS MIGHT AS WELL BE LITTLE LEAGUE!" John yelled back. Andy raised his hand in between his and John's face and flipped him the bird, then turned back to Stiles who was smirking. None of his friends from home were ever this passionate about baseball. He loved the banter. "Sorry, so why the Mets for a dude from California?" John asked again. 

Stiles chuckled, and adjusted his blue fitted Mets baseball cap, sticking a finger under the dome to scratch at his forehead, and then fitting it back correctly. "My mom was raised in New York and literally only moved to California for my Dad, and she raised me as a Mets fan and when we'd come out here to visit family in the summers, growing up, my grandpa used to take me to every game that he could when I was here. So I just, I don't know, I love them as if I was a New Yorker. I rarely miss a game. It's a miracle I'm dating a Yankees fan. If she wasn't so genuinely a baseball fan, I don't know, man..." Stiles joked, sort of, and the boys laughed. 

"So you've been to games at Shea?" Kevin, Andy's brother and another member of Cat's friend group, asked Stiles, referring to the Mets' stadium of their youth. Stiles nodded, as he stuffed a few more crinkle-cut fries in his face. "So, then settle a debate."

"Oh god, not this. IT'S SHEA, ASSHOLE!" Andy yelled at his brother, on the other side of John, then leaned back in his seat and rolled his eyes. 

"How about we let him fucking answer, dipshit? How about that?" Kevin replied, and Stiles laughed as John reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "Stiles, which do you think was the better stadium? Shea or Citifield?"

"Or the new Yankees Stadium!" John interjected.

"Oh get the fuck out of here!" Kevin and Andy yelled at John in unison, as they all laughed.

"Okay, well of the two Mets stadiums?... Shit, I don't know man, Shea has my childhood memories, you know? Mike Piazza, Robin Ventura, TURK! But Citifield is pretty great.. like, this is a really cool stadium, and it has Shake Shack..." Stiles said loudly and leaned back towards Cat, hoping to elicit even the slightest smirk from her, but she was too deep in her own conversation, so he leaned back towards the guys. "I'm going to have to go with Shea though, I think. That's my childhood, man, you know?" Stiles finally decided. 

"HAH! SEE!" Andy pointed his finger in his brother's face. 

"You're dead to me, man." Kevin waved Stiles off jokingly, and Stiles grinned. 

The other half of the group was in the aisle in front of Stiles and Cat, including Megan, a moderately pretty and smart Mets fan, and someone who Cat had been friends with since Freshman year of high school. At some point in the bottom of the third inning, Cat began noticing that Megan had turned around and was flirting with Stiles. Megan was always a flirt and was notorious for cheating on her boyfriend, but until she began flirting with Cat's boyfriend, those were qualities that she joked about with everyone else. Stiles was riveting Megan and the guys with stories of working at the Sheriff's station that summer and how he had secured an internship with Scott's dad at the Bay Area FBI office for next summer. 

The conversation had moved back to baseball when Stiles realized that most of his stories were beginning to veer towards the supernatural, and he wasn't certain which of his girlfriend's friends, if any, knew about that side of her life. Cat sat on Stiles' left, her arms folded across her chest, as Stiles, Megan, John, Andy, Kevin, Dan and Frankie all argued about Yoenis Cespedes' hamstring injury, Curtis Granderson being snatched by the Mets from the Yankees, and whether or not Derek Jeter was the greatest baseball player of their generation. Lau elbowed Ellie and then jerked her head towards Cat, who sat there, scowling and watching the game. 

Ellie leaned over Lau and caught Cat's attention. "Are you okay? Cause like, I get that you're not a Mets fan, but I think even Lau and I are enjoying this more than you and we don't even like the sport." 

Cat inhaled through her mouth and exhaled through her nose. "Yea. Just.. you know."

Lau pursed her lips and sucked them back to the side of her mouth. She tucked a strand of her vibrant red hair behind her ear, and frowned. "How can I cheer you up?"

Cat shook her head. "I think, I'm just going to go get a beer. Either of you want one?" Cat stood from her seat and pointed at Lau and Ellie, who both shook their heads. She began walking down the aisle and out to the stairs. Stiles took notice of her absence and glanced at Lau.

"I would go after her if I were you." Lau told Stiles, who quickly nodded and got up to follow Cat. 

Stiles ran up the cement steps, towards the food stalls, and away from the field after Cat, who stopped at the end of a line to get beer. "What are you getting? Let me pay." Stiles reached down into the back pocket of his khakis to grab his wallet. 

"A beer, and since you're not of age yet, they won't give it to me if you're standing here with me and they card us both."

"No, they won't." Stiles smiled at her, trying to break through the ice. 

"What are you-"

"Hey man, can I get a Brooklyn Lager and a Stella please?" Stiles stepped forward when it was suddenly their turn, cutting Cat off, and handing the man behind the counter a fake ID that Cat had never seen before. 

"Thanks, man. Miss?" The cashier held his hand out for Cat's identification. She handed it to him, he verified her date of birth, and then poured them their beers. Stiles paid and they walked away towards a tall table, instead of heading back to their seats. "Where the hell did you get that? When the hell did you get that?" 

Stiles laughed, and took a sip of his beer. "I called in a favor to my friend, Danny, from high school. He's pretty talented when he can get his hands on a high quality printer." 

"Okay, well, thanks for the beer." Cat said, half smiling and turning back to return to her friends. 

"Cat.." Stiles grabbed her by the back of her arm and kept her from walking away from him. He knew he had done something wrong. "Did I do something? You're mad at me, I know you are."

"It's fine. Let's just go back to our seats and we can talk about it later." She dismissed him, while staring down at his hand, still wrapped around her bicep.

Stiles frowned and shook his head. "No, please tell me what I did." He pressed further. 

Cat contorted her face with annoyance. "It's not what you did, you idiot. It's what I did." She paused. "And what you did."

Stiles jutted his head forward, squinted in confusion and furrowed his brow. "What did you do?" He was completely lost. 

"I don't want to talk about this here." 

"Fine." Stiles looked around, spotted a stairwell by the back of one of the food vendors that had less foot traffic then the area they were currently in, and yanked Cat behind him, as he walked down a short flight of stairs and out of the crowds. "Let's talk about it here. What did you do?" He repeated, finally letting go of her arm.

Cat went from looking agitated and angry, to looking upset and on the verge of tears. She sat on the second step towards the landing, and stared at her beer in her hands, the bottom of the cup resting against her knee. "I forgot about the Ghost Riders."

"What?"

"I forgot that that happened to you. I was so wrapped up in being home and getting to bring you here and getting to hang out with you and my friends and just all the stuff that we were going to do while we were here, that I forgot about the Ghost Riders."

Stiles frustrated frown turned into a lopsided grin, as he squatted in front of Cat, pressing the bottom of his plastic cup to the cement ground in front of him to steady himself. "That was why you've been giving me side eye for three innings?"

Cat's eyebrows were stitched together and her mouth was set in a permanent frown. She realized how big of an ass she had been since they got there, and it made her feel worse. "No, it's not just that, it's also that you were having a panic attack, basically, and I couldn't do anything to stop it, and I didn't know what to do to stop it, and then you were just in such a bad mood, and you wouldn't hold my hand, and it put me in a bad mood and then you ate something, like a reverse fucking Gremlin, and perked right up, and were in a great mood, but I was still upset... and then Megan was flirting with you, and I just... I fucking forgot the Ghost Riders and I am the worst girlfriend." She sighed and took a long, chugging sip of her beer. 

Stiles snickered and shook his head. "I don't even know where to start with you." He wrapped his hand behind her knee and rubbed his thumb against the fabric of her jeans. "First of all, you can't possibly remember every single supernatural creature that has tried to abduct, maim or kill me... Derek and Scott would take up half of that list alone-"

Cat cut Stiles off. "I should be able to, and the Ghost Riders were huge, Sti. They had you for months, and... you almost didn't come back.... and then I make you get on a train, two trains actually, and I just am the biggest asshole." She had been coming down on herself for at least three innings and it was all finally coming out now. 

"Would you stop? This is not what makes you an asshole. That comment you made about liking dogs more than babies yesterday is what makes you an asshole, and I love you for that." Stiles smirked, trying to connect his eyes with her hazel ones. He saw the slightest twitch of her lips, and it made him feel better; like he was getting somewhere. Stiles sighed happily. "Cat..." He paused to snicker and rub at the top of her knee. "Listen, I could've just not been a stubborn jackass and told you I wasn't ready and taken a cab like you suggested a billion times, but I didn't, and I'm sorry for that."

"Sti.." She didn't want him to feel bad. 

Stiles shook his head and waved his hand in the air in front of him. "No, no, no. I am. I'm sorry.. and as for the panic attack? Counting fingers. It gives me something to focus on, it helps me to know I'm not hallucinating, and yea, counting fingers helps me when I'm having a panic attack." Cat nodded, taking mental notes of what he was saying. "And uh, yea.." Stiles snickered a little louder, pressing his lips to the back of his free hand in an attempt to hide his subtle blush and grin. "I maybe was a little hangry.. My bad. I didn't mean to get you all upset, and then suddenly snap out of it myself and leave you still upset. I thought that giving you some space would help but clearly that was the exact opposite of what you needed." 

A very slow smile began to creep across Cat's face in reaction to Stiles' smile and apology. "I'm sorry I was being so grumpy. Next time, I'll just tell you." 

"You're good, baby. Are we good?" Stiles asked with a lopsided grin. 

Cat nodded and leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek. "We're good." 

Stiles winked at Cat, and she broke out in an ear-to-ear grin. "Alright, drink up, I'll buy you another and we'll head back to your friends, okay?" Stiles said, pushing her beer-holding hand back towards her. Cat killed her Stella, and threw their empty cups away as Stiles stood in line for their second drinks. He wrapped his arm around her waist and held her tightly against him, peppering the top of her head with kisses, when she came back. "Hey man, a Stella and a Brookyln Lager please?" Stiles asked the same cashier as last time, handing him both of their ID's. "Thanks." He handed the man his money and handed Cat her beverage, and they started to walk away, attached at the hip once more. "Hey, was there one last thing that you mentioned before?"

"I don't think so..?"

"No, I think there was..." Stiles stopped in place, and stared at Cat's confused face until he remembered. "Megan. You said your friend, Megan, was flirting with me." He grinned. 

Cat rolled her eyes, and took a large sip of her beer, beginning to feel somewhat tipsy. "Don't feel special, she does it to everyone."

"Wanna hear something funny?" Stiles asked, and she rolled her eyes again. Stiles took that as a 'yes'. "I didn't even notice. I was too focused on how sexy you look in this low cut 'Mets blue' shirt." Stiles connected his hands with Cat's hips and pressed his body against hers, a smug grin resting on his perfectly pink lips. "I'm serious, I barely even noticed her." 

"Barely, huh?" Cat continued giving Stiles shit.

"Oh for fucks sake." Stiles rolled his eyes, and connected his lips to hers. The kiss was a little sloppy and a very heated and before she knew it, his tongue was dominating hers, and his hand had found a home in the back pocket of her jeans. "Unghh...." Stiles moaned incoherently as he broke from the kiss, his eyes slightly rolling back in his head and his lips licking off the taste of her beer from his lips. "Fuck." 

"Okay, well, I think I believe you now." Cat sucked on her top lip, trying to hide a smirk as Stiles tipsily continued pressing his groin against her. 

"Oh you still just 'think' you believe me?" Stiles looked around him, and whispered. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.. Okay." He threw his beer back, a quick twenty second chug that he had perfected from all of Simon's parties, and then he looked down at his girlfriend, slightly drunk and swaying in his arms. "Drink." 

"What?" She asked, snickering. 

"DRINK!" He said louder, his eyes growing wider, before he continued scanning the area. Cat drank about half of her Stella before Stiles couldn't wait any longer. "Okay, that's good enough." He grabbed the cup from her hand, placed it inside of his empty one, and ran to the closest garbage to toss them. 

"I wasn't done, Stiles! What are you-" 

"Come on!" He grabbed her hand and took off on a brisk jog back towards the stairs where they were talking earlier. Instead of turning all the way towards the stairs though, Stiles turned the knob on a door marked " _Storage_ " and all but clicked his heels when it actually opened. "They really should invest in some locks." Stiles glanced behind him as he heard the familiar knocking sound of a bat connecting with the leather of a ball. He ignored it and entered the room.

"What are you doing?" Cat looked around behind her and noticed that no one was noticing them. People were engrossed in the game with the Mets up to bat. She watched as he searched for a light switch and finally found it. The room illuminated with fluorescent light, and suddenly she saw entire pallets of souvenir cups and hot dog buns lining the walls. "Are you planning on stealing the cups? Cause Sti, if you're stealing cups at this point, I think we need to talk to your dad about your kleptomania." 

Stiles playfully glared behind him at her as he pulled Cat into the storage closet. "I only steal what I need." He said as he closed the door behind her. 

Cat laughed and narrowed her eyes at him. "Isn't that what criminals say?" 

"Shut up." Stiles smirked, and then pressed his lips hard against hers. He set his hands on either side of her face and guided her roughly up against the door. Her hands wrapped around the waist of his khaki pants, under the hem of his jersey, and pulled him closer against her. "Fuck, I want you so bad right now." He said, breaking from their kiss enough to admit his desires out loud before bending down to suck on her neck. 

She marveled at the fact that she heard the cracking of the bat hitting a ball again, and didn't even see Stiles blink in reaction. "Where did this come from?" Cat said, her eyes fluttering more completely shut with each long, wet kiss on her throat. Her left hand still wrapped around the waist of his pants, pulling him closer, as her right hand moved down to press her palm against the outline of Stiles' rapidly hardening cock. 

Stiles brought his hand up next to Cat's head, pressing his palm flat against the door, the veins on his wrist bulging as the blood coursed through his body quickly. "You were mad at me for hours, and then you weren't and then you were being sassy and jealous and possessive and mmf, just sexy... you were sexy all day, just to be clear, but-"

"Shut up." Cat mimicked her boyfriend, with a smirk, before cutting him off completely by crashing her lips against his again. 

Stiles groaned loudly, and suddenly, his hands found their way around her thighs. He hoisted her up, wrapping her legs around his waist, and sat her on top of one of the pallets of souvenir cups. She brought her fingers down to the button of his pants and he tore her shirt off over her head. When she finally unzipped his pants, and pulled them down, revealing a fully erect Stiles, he grabbed at her breasts, kneading them over the fabric of her bra. He tugged at the lacy padding and connected his teeth and tongue to one of her nipples. Cat let out a loud moan, and shoved her hand passed the elastic of Stiles' blue and orange Mets boxer briefs, and began sloppily jerking him off. Stiles grew more intense with her touch, sucking harder, aiming to leave bruises on her chest to mark her as his. 

"Holy fuck." Stiles groaned, bracing his free hand against the cups behind her. "Do you give a shit if someone walks in on me railing you right now?" 

Cat grinned devilishly, as she pulled her hand from inside his briefs and began unbuttoning his jersey. "They might care, I definitely don't." 

"You're a dream come true, did you know that?" Stiles smirked at her, lust and love filling his eyes. 

"Shut up and help me unbutton this." She said as she struggled with the thick fabric. 

"Yes, baby, but first, this has to go." Stiles leaned around, eliciting a groan from Cat as she lost her place with his shirt, and unhooked her bra. He ripped it down her arms and threw it across the room, where it slid behind a pallet of hot dog buns. "These too." Stiles looked down and unzipped her skin tight jeans, then yanked them down her thighs. "Oh my god, I love you." He mumbled excitedly as he quickly undid the rest of the buttons on his jersey, slid it off his arms, and let it drop to the floor behind him. "Turn around." He demanded. 

" _Bases are loaded, and Wright is up to bat_." They both heard the announcement over the speakers outside of the closet. 

" _Stiles_..." She said before completely turning around. 

"Uh... no, no, it's okay, turn around, I wan... to...." Stiles paused, staring up at the ceiling, his brow furrowed. "Did that sound like he said ' _Strike Two_ ' or ' _Ball Two_ '?" Her brow dropped as she glared at him. She had lost him the moment that he heard the words 'bases loaded'.

"I don't know, why don't we go outside and find out?"

"Oh.... but.... baby, you're already..." Stiles halfheartedly protested. 

"I share you with baseball, it's fine, especially tonight. We can finish this at home after the game." She shook her head and patted him on the shoulder. 

"Oh my god, you are the best girlfriend ever. _Ever_. Ever, ever, ever, ever. I love you." Stiles placed a quick peck on her lips, and then reached into his boxer briefs, to adjust his hard on to rest under the elastic band of his underwear. He turned around and grabbed his jersey off of the floor, and buttoned everything back up quickly. "Come on!" Stiles whined, pulling at Cat's wrist, not even paying attention to the fact that she was still topless. 

"Stiles! **I'M NOT EVEN WEARING A BRA**!" She playfully yelled, watching him fidget like an impatient child. 

"Oh shit, yea." He scanned the room for the bra and caught sight of a strap, hanging off a bag of buns. "You can put it on in the bathroom after." He stuffed it in his back pocket and tucked his jersey over the remnants that poked out, then rotated his weight from one foot to the other, bursting at the seams waiting for her to get her shirt on. "Great. Let's go." 

" _Three and two, and here comes the pitch_......."

Stiles ran through the door, dragging Cat behind him, as he sprinted up to the railing at the back of the stands and watched as the ball went over the fence and into the upper deck of left field. "HOLY SHIT!"

" _ **IT. IS. OUTTA HERE! DAVID WRIGHT WITH A GRAND SLAM! AND THE METS ARE ROUNDING THE BASES**_!" The announcer excitedly yelled, as Stiles hooped and hollered, clapping his big hands together and shaking Cat in her place. 

"I love you. I love the Mets. I am the happiest fucking man on earth." Stiles yelled in her face, a massive smile spread across his mouth. 

* * *

 

Stiles finally allowed Cat to put her bra back on, then they returned to their seats, only having been gone a full inning. The Mets continued with their good luck, and good hitting, and won the game. They took the train home with her friends and this time, instead of watching him have a panic attack, Cat saw Stiles, sitting in the six seater with her guy friends excitedly talking about baseball and if he wanted to join their fantasy baseball team the following season. He flashed a smile at her before the announcement rang through the cars for Woodside station, and she felt full knowing that Stiles not only enjoyed himself, but he was getting over a long held anxiety as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is basically just a chapter of "if Stiles was my boyfriend and came to a Mets game with me and all of my friends and then didn't break up with me immediately after because we are all horrible people."


	43. The New York Trip (Part II)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat and Stiles head out to the Hamptons to have dinner with Cat's dad and sister.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: triggers for abuse.

"Is it the train?" 

"Is what the train?" Stiles asked, opening his eyes and leaning his head back down to look at Cat. 

"Is it being on the train that is making you so nervous?" 

"Why do you think I'm nervous? I'm napping, I'm not nervous. Are you nervous?" Stiles spoke quickly. 

Cat's eyes widened and her brow furrowed, as she tried to stave off the early stages of a smirk. "Well...." The smirk came anyway. "For one, I am surprised that your leg shaking hasn't, like, knocked us off the tracks or something. Also, baby, I am holding your hand right now and my palm is drenched. You are so clammy... plus I think your eye has been twitching a little.." She began to point up at his eye.

"No, it hasn't." Stiles let go of her hand and rubbed at his twitching eye.

Cat couldn't help but laugh. She pulled Stiles' fingers from his eye and pulled at his twitchy leg. "Okay, come here... Face me.... Sarah taught me this. She does it when I have a headache." Stiles tucked his left leg under his butt and leaned the left side of his body against the seat back. 

"I don't have a headache though." He whined, as his right leg began bouncing in his new position. 

"Would you shut up? It's soothing.. and for the love of god, Sti. Is it the train? We can get off at Patchogue and just Uber the rest of the way." Cat asked as she brought her hands up to the sides of Stiles' face. She left her fingers above his ears, and pressed both of her thumbs against the bridge of his nose. Stiles closed his eyes and leaned into her caring touch. 

"It's not the train.." Stiles finally spoke, his leg had stopped shaking and his shoulders slumped forward. Cat massaged her fingers up the bridge of his nose, over his brow bones, down his cheeks, and under his ears. She repeated this action over and over, watching Stiles relax into her touch. 

"What is it then?" 

"Your Dad hates me and I'm afraid of him... and we are spending the rest of the weekend with him, and I haven't met you sister yet, and from what you've said Margot is-"

"Insane? The worst? My actual least favorite person on earth?" Cat listed off, barely joking.

"Well that's not helping." Stiles complained, opening his eyes and pulling Cat's hands off of his face, and into his lap. "But _that_ did help. The twitch is gone. Thanks, baby." Cat mouth curved up into a half smile and she leaned the right side of her body against the seat back. "Are you nervous?" 

Cat nodded. "Yea. I literally moved across the country to avoid seeing her and now I'm being forced to spend this weekend with her? Sucks." She shook her head and pursed her lips. 

"You really don't talk about her that often..."

"My stories aren't necessarily fun." Cat's forehead wrinkled, and she stared down at their hands. 

"I feel like I should know a little something before I meet her..." Stiles prodded, his curious nature shining through. It always irked Stiles that the two of them shared everything and he felt like he knew every inch of her, but this was a piece of herself she didn't willingly share often.

Cat sighed and leaned forward, she broke her hands from his and ran them up his wrists and underneath the sleeves of his light gray henley, as she then wrapped her fingers over the underside of his forearms. Stiles grabbed her elbows, supporting her hold, and cocked his head to the side, waiting for her to speak. "I feel like a good story to explain Margot and I is this one time when I was probably like eight or nine, and you've seen pictures of me, I was tiny..." Stiles smiled and nodded. Every time he saw a picture of Cat as a little girl, he would call her a ' _munchkin_ ' because she was just so small and cute. It always made him smile. He was about to learn, however, that this was not a happy story. Cat continued. "But if I was eight or nine, she was, like, eleven or twelve, right?" Stiles nodded. "So, my parents went out to dinner with friends and felt that Margot was old enough to babysit me for a few hours. And uh, I don't even remember what it is that I did to set her off so thoroughly, but somewhere towards the end of the night, Margot was just, like, screaming at me, and she went into the kitchen and she pulled out a metal ladle from a drawer, and she took a swipe at me. It hit me across the arm and... she was strong for her age. She went to hit me again, and I bolted. She chased me around the house with the ladle, just screaming at me, but I was quicker, and I managed to get into my parents' bathroom, which was one of the only rooms in our old house that had a lock on it.. Anyway, Margot just banged and shook the door from the other side, screaming and hitting the ladle against it for.... minutes?" 

"Jesus.." Stiles' brow was furrowed and he had a look of utter disgust on his face. 

Cat continued. "The lock on that door could be picked on the outside with a toothpick or like bobby pin or something, though, and Margot remembered that and so for another, five minutes or so, Margot tried to pry the lock open in order to get inside. I just stood there, physically holding the lock horizontal as she screamed at me and kicked the door. When she tired of that and realized that she wasn't getting in, she went somewhere else, but I was a wreck. I grabbed a bath towel off of one of the hooks on the wall, and wrapped it around me, and walked into my parents shower and just closed the glass door, and I just sat on the floor and cried until they came home." 

"Did they ground her?" Stiles asked, his heart rate higher than normal. 

"They weren't going to. She ended up calling them after she gave up trying to get in and she tried covering her ass, but she hit me hard with a metal fucking spoon, and it left a welt and a bruise, and my mom saw it and she grounded her ass." 

"Good. Fucking, good. God damn Dorothy to the rescue as always." Stiles spoke fondly of Cat's mother. "She doesn't still try to pull that shit, does she? Cause I'll kill her." 

Cat laughed softly, and brought her left hand up to Stiles' cheek, stroking her thumb over his skin. She shook her head in response to his question. "When I got to high school... I don't remember what set her off, I never remember what sets her off. It's not like she ever really needed an excuse, but, anyway, she went off on me one day. She was angry, and we had gotten into a fight, and she ripped my little, old pink flip phone out of my hand and she tossed it against the wall." Cat mimicked the action she described. "And it shattered, like completely broken."

"And the phones we grew up with were more durable than these things..." Stiles lifted Cat's iPhone off of the seat in between them.

Cat nodded. "Exactly.." Cat raised her eyebrows in agreement. "So she broke my phone and I was pissed, and I probably yelled or like shoved her, and so she then shoved me back and shut her closet door with my body. I had this massive bruise on my shoulder blade from the door handles. But I smacked my head when I fell against the doors, and she thought that was it, so she started walking away, but I was livid. I called her a 'fucking bitch' and I think I may have thrown a shoe.."

Stiles snickered and squeezed her hand tightly. "That's my girl."

Cat raised her eyebrows and her mouth twitched up for a moment. "But wait, so I threw a shoe, and it hit her, not hard - you've seen my aim." Cat joked and Stiles smirked. "She turned back around and I had gotten up from the floor and she wrapped her hands around my throat and was just like, 'I'm the fucking bitch?!' and she just began choking me. I had to not go to school for like a week until the bruises on my neck went away."

Stiles looked mortified and angry. "Did your parents break it up?"

Cat shook her head. "If I remember correctly, they weren't even home. I think they were still at work. I broke it up. That was the first time I ever generated a force field. I was so done being pushed around by her-"

"And she was literally trying to kill you." Stiles interjected. 

Cat snickered. "That too... and before I knew it, the little balls of silver energy pooled up in my fists and instinctively I just shot them at her, and she went flying across the room...." Cat paused, zoning out on a button near the top of Stiles' green flannel shirt. "That was the last time she went after me. She couldn't take me anymore. I was finally stronger than her..." 

"What the fuck, Cat.." Stiles asked rhetorically, shaking his head and breaking Cat out of her trance.

She connected her eyes with his and pursed her lips. "It's fine. It was all a long time ago... just, now you know why I don't talk about her often." She explained. 

Stiles furrowed his brow and nodded. He gripped her hands tightly in her lap and leaned forward slightly. "If she ever came after you again, I'd lose my mind. I'd probably kill her." 

Cat smiled and brought her lips up to Stiles'. "I love you too, baby." She whispered, then rested her head against his shoulder. Stiles stroked her hair and tried to fight the desire to get off of the train and go back into the city in order to protect the girl he loved.

* * *

"Do you need help?" 

Cat put her glass down on the counter, turned her head around and spotted Stiles entering the kitchen behind her. "I'm just getting more chips.. I don't know if that's a two person job." She smirked at him. "You just wanted to get out of there with them, didn't you?"

Stiles grimaced, then nodded. "I think if looks could kill, your Dad would stare at me all day."

Cat spit out some of her drink on the bag of chips in her hands, which caused Stiles to lighten up and laugh too. She handed him her glass as she went to grab a paper towel to dry off her hands and the bag, and Stiles leaned against the counter and took a sip from her drink. "Whoa-ly shit..." Stiles coughed quietly, shut his eyes, rolled his head back on his neck and couldn't help it when a slight grin spread across his lips. "This is basically vodka with some lime."

"There's some seltzer in there too." Cat shrugged with a smirk, and took the glass from his hand. 

"So you're a little drunk right now, aren't you?" Stiles asked, snickering quietly and shaking his head at his girlfriend.

Cat's face became more deadpan, as she replied. "It is literally the only way I am making it through this dinner without jumping into the ocean and drowning myself by dessert." 

Stiles laughed a little louder. "I can't believe you were holding out on me. This dinner is equally painful for me... Here, I thought you loved me."

Cat laughed, walked over to Stiles, grabbed at the fabric on the body of his gray henley and pulled herself towards him. She stood on her tip toes, grazed her lips against Stiles, eliciting a quick intake of air from him, and finally connected her mouth with his. Stiles sucked on her bottom lip for a moment before she pulled away, grinning. Stiles licked at his lips, tasting her still, and finally opened his eyes. 

"You're killing me, woman." Cat bit and her bottom lip and grinned, and Stiles shoved his hands in his front pockets.

"Do you want vodka?" She asked finally, moving to put the bag of chips in the bowl finally. Stiles contemplated for a minute, then grimaced. He hated vodka. "I have clear rum, if that sounds any better?" Cat offered, without hearing Stiles' verbal answer. She remembered his unfortunate encounter with vodka at one of Simon's parties during the school year. 

Stiles bobbed his head left and right, slightly rolled his eyes, and finally agreed. "Rum works, I guess. A few limes?" 

"You got it, baby." Cat grabbed the rum, a glass, the cut up slices of lime, and the seltzer, and began pouring Stiles' sneaky cocktail.

"So, what is the 'Book of Life and Death'?" Stiles asked as Cat concocted his beverage. 

She cocked her eyebrows up and glanced at Stiles out of the corner of her eye. "I could literally hear your curiosity getting the best of you when Margot mentioned that." She snickered, scratched an imaginary itch on her forehead out of discomfort over the topic and turned fully to look at Stiles. "Um, it is the book that my family has been writing down the exact times of death of our witches and then the exact times of birth of all of our blood relatives."

"So you know who gave who the gift and all of that?" Stiles understood the purpose. 

"Or when to kill a relative to pass the gift...." Cat said sarcastically with a dry smile. "back in the old days, at least." Her smile became a little more genuine, but also somewhat sad. Stiles noticed, and quickly pressed his lips against her temple. She glanced back over to him and rubbed his forearm for a moment, before going back to making his drink.

"Is it just dates or are there like stories and stuff too?" Stiles asked.

"Sometimes there are stories, but mostly, it's just dates and names and the circumstances in which they died."

"There are more stories and descriptions in the parts of the book when we came to America from France." Cat explained. "When the witch trials began across the colonies in the 1600s and shit."

"Is there a reason that Margot has been studying it?" Stiles questioned, his inner future law enforcement officer always suspicious. 

Cat shrugged. "Maybe her and Rich are trying to figure out when to get pregnant in the hopes of giving their kid the gift? I don't know. I hadn't really thought about it. I was mostly ignoring what she was saying as soon as she cut you off and began talking about the wedding." She handed it to him and began putting the liquor away when Rich walked in. 

"If you pour me a little extra vodka, I will forget I saw any of this." Rich offered, and Cat smiled. Rich was too nice for Margot, and Cat never quite understood what it was that he saw in her, but she was grateful that he was generally kind to her over the years. 

Cat grabbed the vodka from the cabinet, topped Rich off, then put the bottle back. "Shall we?" She gestured to the two men, while grabbing the chips off of the counter.

* * *

 

Cat, Stiles, Rich, Margot and Tom sat down in the dining room to finally eat dinner. Stiles kept his hand on top of Cat's thigh, gently rubbing small circles with his fingers, in an attempt to let her know that he was there and they were going to get through the night in one piece. He glanced up when someone at the table other than Cat finally engaged him in conversation.

"So, Stiles, how'd you break your arm again?" Rich asked, extending an olive branch to the only other outsider at the table. 

Stiles lifted his cast and snickered. "This would be the result of ancient demons."

Rich chewed quickly, nodding his head, and pressed his napkin against his mouth. When he spoke, his mouth was still somewhat full of food, but he was interested in what had happened to them that summer in Beacon Hills. "Oh, yea, yea, yea, Tom said something about all of that. What were they called again?"

"Rabisu." Stiles answered, placing his casted hand back on Cat's thigh. 

"And what ended up happening with all of that? I heard the story was interesting, but I haven't heard it." Rich asked, before stabbing more potatoes on his plate with his fork. 

Stiles nodded, and glanced around the table. Cat and Rich were the only two who seemed fully interested in what he had to say, but he continued anyway. "So this guy that I went to high school with also went to Berkeley with us-"

"And he was in my History of Ancient Mesopotamia class with me." Cat interjected. 

Stiles smiled down at her, and nodded. "Yea, yea, and this kid ended up finding out about my friends and I-"

"Your werewolf pack, right? It's a werewolf, that your best friend is, right?" Rich asked for clarification, not completely remembering what Tom had told Margot, and in turn, what Margot had then told him, months prior during the vampire debacle. 

Stiles chewed his dinner and nodded for an extra long minute until he could swallow it fully. "Yes, my best friend Scott is a werewolf. But this kid, his name was Sam, he started dating one of the girls in the Pack and she kind of spurned him, and he became just obsessed with us."

"He was a real fucking nutcase." Cat interjected, causing Stiles to smirk. Stiles completely agreed with that assessment of Sam. Scott would've been upset by that comment, but Cat always had Stiles' back. 

"He really was." Stiles concurred, before continuing. "Basically, Cat's professor had mentioned these demons that like skulk outside of people's doorways at night and kill the inhabitants, and he figured out how to summon these things, in the hopes of killing us or joining us in the fight against them and becoming a part of the Pack."

"The kid sounds certifiable." Rich agreed. 

Stiles chuckled and nodded. "Like you won't even believe. He killed twenty goats, smeared blood on them, then buried their skulls... The dude was insane. But basically he summoned twenty of these archaic demons and then they killed him, and then they killed a whole lot of other people-"

"What was the final number?" Rich asked, getting up to help Tom and Cat clear the plates from the table.

Stiles looked at Cat, approaching their side of the table again, not quite remembering the exact figure. "I think it was like eighteen dead, and something like thirty-something injured, yours truly included." She gripped Stiles' shoulder and chuckled dryly.

"It's lucky that you were just injured." Rich commented.

"Yea, man, but you know, I was fine because I had this one looking out for me the whole time." Stiles stared down at Cat and smiled genuinely, before mouthing 'love you' to her. She squeezed his fingers under the table, and put her head down to hide her slight blush.

"So, Cat, you finally were the one to get rid of them, right?" Margot finally piped up.

"I guess, yea." Cat replied modestly as her Dad set down bowls of ice cream and cookies on the table.

Margot scoffed. "Surprising.." 

Stiles furrowed his brow and rolled his eyes. "She is totally underselling herself right now. Cat was fantastic. She was like a super witch with all the spells and incantations. She set a pool on fire. It was so cool."

"I just don't get how you did ritual magic. I thought that was only for coven witches to do." Margot interjected again, glaring at her sister from under her eyelashes, as she moved the ice cream in her bowl around with the back of her spoon.

"I don't know, maybe Cat's just that powerful..." Stiles chimed in, elbowing Cat in the side and smirking at her. He was proud of all that they had accomplished in terms of improving her magical abilities that summer.

Margot did not hide her disdain for Stiles' intrusion on her conversation. "If she were THAT powerful, then the healing gift would never have come to me."

"Oh shut the fuck up, Margot. You always have to take it back there, don't you?" Cat whispered under her breath.

"I always take it back there because it's true, and you're just mad because you know I'm right."

"You have literally never been right in your entire life. I don't know why you would start now." Cat said sarcastically, eliciting a snicker from Stiles that sent vanilla ice cream splattering into his open hand as he covered his mouth. 

Margot ignored his outburst and continued arguing with her sister. "I was right when I told you that you shouldn't have gotten the powers. You shouldn't have. You didn't deserve them. You were weak. You still are."

"Girls..." Tom warned his daughters, but they ignored him fully.

"Go fuck yourself, Margot. You're such a fucking bitch. I am not weak just because I don't use anger to channel my shit. I have done more good with my powers than you ever will with yours." Stiles glanced over at Rich, who looked even more confused than Stiles felt. He suddenly realized that there was so much about Cat's gift that he never understood or never would've thought to ask about.

"You are weak though." Margot laughed, taunting Cat and riling her up. "That's why you lost the gift. You never deserved it. You never deserved any of it."

"You really wanna fucking talk about what people didn't deserve, Marg? I think you should tread lightly cause I really don't think you want to tread into this water."

"Oh shut the fuck up, Cat, you don't scare me. You and I both know you didn't deserve anything more **than being a fucking mortal**." Margot banged her fist against the table. Cat's dog, Laney, began barking at the yelling, and Stiles watched as chaos descended upon the formerly quiet beach house.

Cat had reached her boiling point and in one swift movement, she rose from the table and reached over it to get in Margot's face, as she screamed out the thought that had been haunting her for years. "AND ELODIE NEVER DESERVED TO DIE." With those words suddenly out in the world, Cat bolted. She fled the dining room and ran out the front door. Stiles pushed his chair back and took off running after his girlfriend. 

"Cat!" Stiles yelled as he raced after her across the grassy hill heading down to the beach in front of her father's house. She didn't slow down, so Stiles kept running. "Cat! **CAT** , **STOP**!" He finally caught up when she stopped on the sand, her feet and ankles splashing against the salty water. Stiles grabbed her arm and pulled her back from the water, and watched as she dangled in place, staring off at the house as her chest rose and fell, trying to catch her breath. "What the _fuck_ just happened?" Stiles demanded to know, yanking at her arm slightly, trying to snap her out of whatever trance she was in.

Cat's forehead wrinkled as her eyebrows furrowed and she tried to fight the tears. He watched as she licked her lips and tried to keep them from quivering. She felt Stiles' grip tighten around her wrist a little more, and she winced. She never wanted him to know any of this. 

" _Cat_.. you have to fucking tell me what that was." He asked, loosening his grip, and gently placing his hand around her cheek, while hunching over to get eye level with her. " _Please_..." 

"Elodie wasn't sick, and she was not _that_ old. The whole thing never sat well with me." She finally managed to utter. 

Stiles narrowed his eyes and tilted his head to the side slightly. "What are you saying?"

"When my grandmother died... it was all suspicious to me. Margot wanted powers so badly..." Cat stared at the collar on Stiles' green plaid shirt, and her eyes slowly made their way up his neck, past his mouth and nose and connected back with his concerned amber eyes. "I think she killed Elodie for her powers." 

" **YOU THINK I KILLED OUR FUCKING GRANDMOTHER**?" Margot screamed from behind the cattails at the edge of the beach, and Cat and Stiles' heads whipped around at the noise.

" **Margot**!" Rich tried to grab at Margot's arm to keep her from physically entering the conversation. When he failed to make contact with her wrist, he simply followed her storming down onto the beach. 

"You are such a fucking psycho. You think that I killed Grandma? What the _fuck_ is wrong with you?" Margot got in Cat's face, and shoved against her shoulder, knocking Cat back a few steps.

Stiles stepped forward and put his hand on Cat's wrist, pulling her behind him to protect her from her unpredictable sister. "Alright, that's enough. You guys have had some drinks; this got a little heated. Why don't we all-"

" **OH SHUT THE FUCK UP**. Who even are you? You are really going to let your stupid little boyfriend fight your fucking battles for you, you little bitch?" Margot spat at Cat. 

Cat stepped to the side of Stiles to see her sister, who's face was red with rage and body was tensed for a fight. "Enough, Margot! It's fucking enough!" She yelled back. 

"No, you are literally so deranged that you think I murdered Grandma El. You think I'm gonna let you get away with spreading that bullshit around?" Margot yelled. 

" _Oh, fuck you_. We both know what you did. I walked into her room after you ' _found her_ ', I saw the pillow." Cat rolled her head and glared at Margot. 

"Let's just go inside, Cat." Stiles tried to defuse the situation, while Rich stood off on the side, watching in horror. 

"This doesn't involve you, little boy." Margot yelled, staring at Cat but talking to Stiles. 

" **It involves her, so it involves me**." Stiles snapped and yelled at Margot. 

"No, this is between me and her." Margot stepped forward. 

"No, this is ove-" Suddenly, Margot lifted her hand and shot a directed force field at Stiles, and knocked him back several feet into the cold sand. 

" **STILES**!" Cat screamed, and ran over to her boyfriend, laying on his back, trying to position himself back upright. "Are you okay?" She asked, helping to prop up his head. 

"My wrist.. I landed on my wrist." Stiles clutched at his casted arm and furrowed his brow. Then looked up at his girlfriend. "Cat..." Her eyes began to glow silver. "Cat... _no_... let's just leave." He looked down at her hands and the pools of bright and shimmering silver light that began to form in her palms. She was too far gone. " **CAT**!" Stiles screamed after her as Rich jogged over to help Stiles up. 

Cat was already marching back down the beach towards Margot, who had a grin on her face and had golden orbs in her hands. " **DON'T EVER TOUCH HIM AGAIN**." Cat yelled as she pushed her hands forward from her chest, her fingers slightly curved, and shoved the force field towards Margot, knocking her back a few steps. 

"Try and stop me.." Margot lowered her head and spoke in a deeper tone, before stepping to her left and throwing another offensive force strike towards Stiles. 

Cat deflected it, by stretching her hands out towards her sides and emitting a force field that just barely protected her and Stiles, who was standing behind her. Cat brought her wrists together and shot a concentrated strike back at Margot. It hit her square in the stomach and Margot was thrown back several feet. Margot barely even sat up before she swiped her hand in the air and threw Cat to the ground with her telekinesis. Cat struggled against Margot's hold, as Margot rose from the ground and began pushing Cat further into the sand underneath her. She began pelting Cat with tiny strikes, as her younger sister struggled to lift her arms to protect herself. Margot was winning. 

" **GO GET TOM**!" Stiles shoved Rich in the direction of the house and Rich took off running. " **Stop! You're going to kill her**!" Stiles screamed, racing towards them. 

Cat found her strength in protecting Stiles, and she managed to focus enough to lift Margot off of the ground without using her hands; a trick that her and Stiles had been practicing with more frequency and more success. Margot let her defenses down in her surprise over Cat's increased skill. Cat took the opportunity in Margot's distraction, and began throwing small daggers of light, a facet of her power that she had never before accessed. Margot put up her hands to protect her face, but the small light daggers left small, but deep cuts. Stiles watched on in horror. 

"Enough, Cat. **Stop**." Cat didn't listen to Stiles' pleas. She continued her magical assault. " **ENOUGH**!" Stiles screamed, as Tom and Rich made it back to the beach.

Cat stopped, and turned to look at Stiles, who had leaned down and clutched Cat to his chest with his good arm. Margot looked like she was about to attack again, but Tom stepped in between, and Rich ran up to Margot. Cat coughed up sand and Stiles wiped blood away from her nose and the right corner of her mouth. 

"What in the hell is wrong with you two?" Tom yelled, glancing back and forth between his daughters. 

"I'm fucking done. I'm just, I'm so fucking done." Cat managed to yell at her father and sister. 

" _You're_ fucking done? We're not even close to done. **You need to take it back**!" Margot screamed, still enraged. 

" _Enough_." Tom hissed between his teeth in Margot's direction. 

Stiles helped Cat up to her feet and wiped the sand out of her hair. "Let's go." Stiles whispered, and Cat nodded up at him. She was finished. She had nothing left to say. She and Stiles began walking away from the beach, leaving Margot, Rich and Tom standing by the water. Stiles heard Margot arguing with her father, claiming that he always took Cat's side, and Tom arguing that he never did. As he walked farther away, Cat still clutched against his chest, their voices were drowned out by the sound of the waves crashing against the sand. 

"I don't want to stay here." Cat whispered to Stiles, as they walked on the grassy hill up to the lit up house. 

"Neither do I." Stiles agreed. 

"And we need to get you to the hospital." Cat said, touching Stiles' upper left shoulder blade. 

* * *

Cat and Stiles didn't wait to say goodbye to her father. Stiles called an Uber and the two of them packed their belongings back up, and they simply left. The car took them to the closest emergency room in the town of Stonybrook, and Stiles spent the next several hours getting x-rays of his arm. It wasn't re-broken, it was simply sprained, which meant six more weeks with his new cast. Cat and Stiles left the hospital in a taxi sometime around midnight and got on the first train back towards the city. Around two in the morning, they walked through the front doors of Dorothy's Forest Hills' home. They trudged up to Cat's bedroom and got in bed. 

Stiles held Cat tightly against his chest. He stared at the ceiling, as she rested her head against his bare chest, and he ran his fingers through her hair. She was the most still he had ever felt her. Besides her gentle breathing, Cat didn't move a muscle. He thought back on the moment that he saw Cat's eyes glow silver on the beach and realized that that was her power taking control of her body. It made him think of Kira. He never saw Kira's fox aura but Scott and Derek had both described it to him on separate occasions and he remembered Kira saying that when it flared up, she felt out of control. He thought of what Kira had to go through, going to the Skinwalkers, in order to try to get a handle on her powers. He wondered if it ever actually worked for her. He then wondered if Cat would feel the need to ship herself off eventually to get a hold on her own powers. The idea made his chest hurt.

"Oh shit..." Cat muttered, and suddenly sat up. 

"What?" Stiles sat up with her, and watched as she held her hands up to her face. He watched as she climbed out of the bed quickly and ran towards the bathroom. He glanced down, as he pulled the blankets off the lower half of his body, and noticed a few large droplets of blood. "Shit, you're bleeding? Cat, are you okay?" Stiles ran into the bathroom after her, the bright lights blinding him momentarily as he moved from the completely dark bedroom. 

Cat leaned over the sink and watched as drops of blood ran down the white porcelain and into the running water. "It's just a nosebleed." She mumbled, running her red hands under the faucet. 

Stiles pulled at the toilet paper and ripped off a few squares, then held them out for Cat to grab. He watched as she wiped her wet hands against one of the towels and then took the toilet paper from him, and pushed it against her nose. She sunk to the floor, her back against the vanity under the sink, and felt the cool tile against her bare legs. "Are you okay?" Stiles asked, squatting in front of her, in nothing more than his black boxer briefs.

"Yea, it happens sometimes. It'll stop eventually. You look like you've murdered someone though."

She pointed at the smeared blood running in streaks across his abdomen. He grabbed a wash cloth off one of the towel rods and ran it under the tepid water. He wiped at his stomach and his hands, getting all of the blood off, and then he squatted back in front of Cat again. He pulled at her hand, and quickly wiped at the blood that had begun to dry on her top lip and chin. She quickly placed the reddening toilet paper back against her nose and watched as Stiles, dropped the cloth into the sink, grabbed the toilet paper roll off of the holder, and sat down on the cold tile floor across from her. He unraveled clean squares, balled them up and handed them to her, while holding his hand out for her bloodied wad, that he then threw in the trash.

"I thought blood made you faint." She asked, hearing her voice carry through the quiet room. 

Stiles shrugged. "Not when it comes to you, I guess. Is this a regular nose bleed or a magical nose bleed?" He asked seriously. 

Cat laughed at the way he phrased it. "I guess it is a magical one... It used to happen a lot more when I was a kid." She gestured for him to give you more clean toilet paper as she felt blood pressing against her fingers and her current wad quickly soaking all the way through. 

"Do you remember if it happened the first time you created a force field?" Stiles asked, handing her the new bundle. 

She furrowed her brow. Cat knew a leading question when she heard one. "It did. It doesn't happen every time my eyes glow though. Just when I overexert myself. It takes a lot out of me to use that forceful of magic."

"Do you ever get worried you can't control it?" 

"Do you?" Cat turned the question around on Stiles. 

He shrugged and stared down at her feet, resting under her knees. "Sometimes.... I just, I don't want to lose you."

She leaned forward, running your hand up Stiles' bare leg, against the grain of his long and thick leg hair, and stopping just under the hem of his black boxer briefs. She squeezed at his thigh and connected her eyes with his, as his hand landed on top of hers and stayed there. "You aren't going to lose me. I'm sorry about tonight. I know that that was way more than you bargained for."

Stiles shook his head and stared at his thumb caressing the back of her hand. "I just wish that you had told me any of that stuff before. I feel like there is this whole side of you that I have no idea about."

"The Elodie thing?" 

Stiles nodded. "And just how you and Margot are with each other. I've never seen you act that way." Cat hung her head in shame of her behavior, and Stiles quickly followed up. "I don't blame you though. That was the first time I had ever met your sister and I was screaming at her. She's a horrible person."

Cat couldn't help but snicker, but quickly stopped when she felt blood shoot from her nose, under the toilet paper, and on to her wrist. Stiles leaned forward and wiped it off of her with a clean square. She leaned her head against the vanity, avoiding knobs and corners, and she sighed. "I'm sorry I kept all that to myself, I just, fuck, I was ashamed, Stiles. You don't have siblings and you get along so well with your Dad and I just worried that maybe you wouldn't get it."

Stiles pursed his lips and pressed his knuckles against the floor. He was upset that their relationship wasn't where he thought it was. "I just, I get that. I get all of that, but I told you all that shit about my Dad and Grandpa's relationship, and I get that it's not the same, but I get fucked up family dynamics, and I love you so much, I just wish that you had trusted me enough to tell me."

"Stiles.." You leaned forward and, without thinking, moved the tissue away from your face, and blood quickly poured from your nose. 

Stiles' eyes widened and he pushed your hand back against your face. "Jesus, I'm doing okay with the blood right now, but let's not push it, okay?" 

Cat chuckled because Stiles did, and she leaned back against the sink. "I trust you with my life... often. I trusted you enough to bring you to what I knew would inevitably be a shitshow tonight. I should've told you. I regret it so much right now. I know how much you love me, Sti. I do, and you know everything now." She massaged her fingers against his right ankle, as it laid on the floor next to her own leg. 

"Everything?" Stiles questioned. 

Cat nodded slowly. "Every last piece of me." 

Stiles nodded for a few moments. "Tell me about your Grandma El and Margot."

Your eyes grew pensive and your hand slowed to a halt. "Margot and Elodie had a tumultuous relationship. Elodie had made it very clear to my parents that she was grateful that I was the one who had gotten powers because, even as a little kid, you've heard the stories, Margot just had a horrible temper and a lot of issues... Even before I even came along.. Anyway, that had always strained their relationship, especially when Margot was older. You can just feel when someone loves you out of obligation, you know?"

Stiles thought of his own Grandfather and nodded. "Yea, I know what you're talking about."

"Well, Margot's options for getting the gift were limited."

Stiles interrupted to clarify a point. "Because a relative with the gift needs to die to pass it along." 

Cat nodded. "Exactly, and at that point, we were living here, with Elodie, and I was training and really progressing with my magic, and Margot was just growing more and more angry and violent, and one morning, on Margot's birthday, she came bounding downstairs into the kitchen where my mom and I were eating breakfast, and she is just... she's crying a little too hard, you know?" Stiles narrowed his eyes and nodded slowly. He had a horrible pit in his stomach over where this story was about to go. He instinctively reached out and grabbed Cat's leg, rubbing gentle circles on her knee, as she continued speaking. "Margot is just bawling and she is like, 'Grandma's dead, Grandma's dead!' And so I take off up the stairs towards Elodie's room, and I hear Margot running behind me. My mom had stayed in the kitchen to call an ambulance, and she came up a few moments later, but I burst through the door, and there was Elodie, laying on her bed, not moving. One of her pillows was resting down at the foot of the bed, and her sheets were pretty crumpled, and I rushed over and checked on her. She wasn't breathing. So, I rested my head against her chest and her heart wasn't beating, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Margot grab the pillow, walk around the other side of the bed, and place it on top of the others next to Elodie."

"And it was just after the exact time that Margot was born?" Stiles confirmed.

You nodded. "She was only seventy-six, and she was as healthy as could be, and-"

"And you felt that this was more than a coincidence... How was Elodie acting once you got upstairs with her?" Stiles asked, suddenly feeling his innate detective instincts kicking in. 

"She stopped crying as soon as I walked through the doors, and she remained that way until my mom walked into the room. I get that people grieve and cope with loss in their own ways, but.."

"And you think she'd be capable of doing it? Of actually killing her own grandmother?" Stiles inquired. 

"Yea... yea, I do. She wanted those powers more than she wanted air to breathe. She would've done anything... That whole day never sat right with me."

"I have learned a few things by being the son of a sheriff, and trusting your gut feeling.. I trust your gut, and honestly, it all does seem a little too coincidental." Stiles supported her belief, and she felt relieved. Then she felt stupid for not having told him all of that sooner. It felt good to not have to solitarily hold that burden. 

"I love you so much, did you know that? I don't know what I would do without you. You make me feel so.... not insane." 

Stiles snickered at her comment and smiled. "I love you too, Cat... and you're not insane, baby. Your family is, but you aren't. If it weren't for the obvious witch genetics, I would almost guess you were adopted." Stiles joked, making her pinch her nose and try to laugh breathily out of her mouth. "Is it slowing?" He asked, tilting his head to see her face, as she moved the tissue away to look at the amount of blood in it. 

"I think so." 

"If I bring the trashcan and the toilet paper roll, can we go back to laying in bed?" Stiles asked, beginning to get up from the floor. Cat smiled under the toilet paper and rose to her feet as well, with Stiles' help. She followed him back to bed and the two of them chatted about how he protected her and how she protected him and how much the two of them would always do that for each other. Eventually Cat's nose stopped bleeding and the two of them fell asleep together, holding each other tightly, still feeling protective after the evenings' events. 

The next day, Cat and Stiles filled Dorothy in on what had happened that caused them to return from the Hamptons so early. Dorothy simply shook her head throughout the story, but to Stiles, her silence was telling. The lack of her protests over Cat's theory about how Margot got her gift, spoke volumes about the potential accuracy of the theory itself. If even Margot and Cat's mother couldn't bring herself to definitively argue the validity of Cat's claim of murder, Stiles had to think that a part of Dorothy believed that it was true.

Stiles and Cat stayed close to home that day, ordering in pizza and two dozen garlic knots and watching movie after movie after movie until the sun went down. They ate with Dorothy and then said their goodbyes. The next morning, they got on a plane back to California to finally start their school year at Berkeley.


	44. The Lake Tahoe Lodge (Part I)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> About a month and half has passed since Stiles and Y/n’s rough trip to New York, in August, and all has been quiet on the West Coast. Finally back at school, the McCall Pack takes a long weekend off to the woods to celebrate Scott’s nineteenth birthday, and indulge in some much deserved downtime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To know me, is to know that my favorite Teen Wolf/Stiles Stilinski series on tumblr is @fillthevoid-stilinski‘s Nine To Five on tumblr. 
> 
> When I was writing this chapter, I couldn’t stop thinking about Chapter Five of Nine To Five and the story that Allison tells about Stiles in high school pulling pranks and I just remember thinking how quintessentially Stiles it was. 
> 
> I asked Em if I could borrow it to put in this chapter because I feel like that story should be Stiles canon. She, like the perpetual angel she is, said yes, and here we are

_"So, how many bedrooms is it?" Allison asked, fully turned around with her arms resting on the back of the chair._

_"Eight. But there are two living rooms, one of the first floor and one in the basement, and the one in the basement has three full couches so everyone should have a place to sleep."_

_"Who's where?" Allison inquired._

_"Well, I figured because of Scott, that you and him could take the master, and then Sti-"_

_Allison cut her off. "No, no, no, Scott and I will be happy wherever you put us. You and Stiles deserve the master bedroom because you planned this whole thing. I'm serious, it's yours."_

_Cat knew better than to argue with her best friend. She opened her notebook to the page where she had drawn the layout of the bedrooms in the house, and scribbled her and Stiles' names down in the master. "Is Theo coming?"_

_"Unfortunately, I think so. He hasn't said no, so I'm just assuming." Stiles answered, lightly rolling his eyes over the suddenly reformed chimera, who he still didn't fully trust._

_"Okay, well, Stiles and I are in the master upstairs, you and Scott are next door, and Sarah and Simon are in the last queen bed upstairs. Lydia and Jordan are in the king bed and Mason and Corey are in the queen bed in the basement, and Isaac and Cora are in the queen bed on the first floor." She tilted the notebook over the edge of her desk so that Stiles and Allison could see._

_"What about the stragglers?" Allison pointed to the list of names at the corner of the page._

_Cat sighed, and contorted her mouth into a half frown. "So everyone can do what they want but there are two bedrooms, one on the top floor and one in the basement, that have a bunk bed and a twin size bed. I figured that Hanna and Malia could stay in the one upstairs, and Liam, Zach, Ethan and Theo can figure out who stays in the bedroom downstairs and who stays on the couches."_

_"Sounds like you got the whole thing worked out." Allison smiled warmly, before glancing over at Stiles with confusion. "What are you staring at?" She asked, turning around to survey what had caught Stiles' attention in the front of the classroom._

_"_ _Oh my god. She still goes here." Stiles covered his mouth as he whispered over to Cat and Allison, sitting in the desks to his left and in front of him. "Don't look... oh my god, I literally just said don't look, and you two turn around." Stiles rolled his eyes as Cat and Allison looked up at the front door of their classroom, seeing a beautiful long-haired brunette with piercing green eyes and a smattering of pronounced freckles over the bridge of her nose, walked into their Law and Society political science class._

_"Who is that?" Allison asked, glancing between Stiles and Cat, who had puzzling looks on their faces._

_"Mina." Stiles answered._

_"The descendant of Van Helsing who helped us to get Hanna back and defeat the vampires last year." Cat elaborated for Allison._

_"We should ask her if she wants to sit with us." Allison postured, nonchalantly._

_"What, uh, Al, are you crazy? She's a wackjob. She's certifiable. I got blood on my shirt that day BECAUSE SHE SLIT SOMEONE'S THROAT IN FRONT OF ME." Stiles whisper shouted, indelicately, his eyes widening in disbelief at Allison's proposition._

_Cat snickered and shook her head. "He did. He almost fainted."_

_Allison rolled her eyes at her friends. "Cat and I talked about this. Maybe she just needs friends who get her lifestyle. I'm gonna wave her over." Allison did just that, and Mina looked behind her, unsure if Allison was waving to her or someone else.  
_

_Cat removed her hand from in front of her face, smiled sheepishly, catching Mina's attention, and waved her over as well. Stiles mouth twitched up momentarily, trying to play nice with the girls. "I swear to god if she kills us, I'm blaming you, Al. I am fully blaming you." Stiles whispered as Mina approached._

* * *

Stiles walked up behind Cat, who was sitting at the dining room table with Isaac, with her nose stuffed in her textbook. He began rubbing her shoulders to which she let out a soft moan, and rolled her head backwards to rest against his sternum. She closed her eyes and relaxed into his touch. Isaac glanced up at the exchange and then glanced over at Cora, sitting next to Ethan and Malia on the couch, all scrolling through their phones in silence. 

Stiles wrapped his arms around the front of Cat's chest, and leaned over to place a kiss on her cheek. She smiled wide and quickly massaged her fingers into his gelled hair. "We finished unpacking the kitchen and Scott and I are going to go split some wood out front."

"Does that seem safe?" Cat asked, teasingly.

He ignored her and continued. "Are you guys going to be done by the time we're done?" Stiles asked, glancing at the books in front of Cat and Isaac. 

"Um..." Cat looked up at Isaac and contorted her mouth to the side, like she was contemplating how much longer their studying would take. "I think an hour or so, right?"

Isaac nodded. "If we can ever figure out this problem, yea, an hour seems right." 

"Okay, I'll check back in, but try to remember that _this_ _is_ _vacation_." Stiles reminded his girlfriend and best friend. 

"Try to remember that the _test_ _is on Wednesday_ , we get back on Tuesday, and it's worth thirty percent of our grade. _Already_." Cat reminded her boyfriend. 

Stiles put his hands up in surrender and walked backwards to the front door to join Scott outside. Cat caught Isaac glancing at Cora again, and then staring at Allison, Lydia and Mina as they traipsed through the living room, giggling like young school girls sharing secrets, and walked out the front door to watch Stiles and Scott make fools of themselves with axes. Isaac jerked his head back to the books in front of him when he heard the front door shut. He then looked up when he felt Cat's eyes staring at the top of his head. 

"What?" Isaac's blue eyes widened in genuine wonderment of what Cat was staring at. 

Cat opened her notebook to a new page and scribbled down some words, not wanting the other super-enhanced were-wolf hearing in the room to hear their conversation. " _You okay_?"  

Isaac both nodded and shook his head in a matter of moments, then dragged her notebook across the table to scribble a reply. " _Cora stuff. I'm fine_."

" _A.A.?_ " She wrote, asking if they were fighting about Allison again. Isaac nodded with a frown. " _You know you can talk to me if you need it_." She reminded her friend. 

Isaac nodded, glanced over his shoulder to see that Cora had made her way into the kitchen with Malia, and turned back to Cat, finally speaking out loud. "It's nothing. Just a rough patch, and just watching Stiles and you just now...." Isaac trailed off. He shook his head again, and rubbed his fingers into his shoulder. 

"Do you want to just get back to studying?" She could read Isaac pretty well, especially since she had been spending even more time with him because they were both in the same business class together that semester. 

Isaac looked relieved and nodded his head. "Yea. Please." Isaac replied. Cat tapped Isaac on the shoulder, and gave him a sympathetic smile, then moved on from the conversation.

* * *

"Do you really think that he doesn't know this is about to happen?" Lydia asked, her arms folded across her chest and a smug look on her face. "He's a true Alpha, it's hard to pull a fast one on him."

"Stiles, Liam, Mason, Corey and Zach all kept him outside by the lake while they were baking this afternoon so there is a chance he didn't smell it." Cat countered, continuing to help Allison light the candles. 

"Plus, he can probably hear us talking about this right now..." Mina chimed in, stating the obvious, and then instantly feeling sorry for doing so when Allison looked exasperated with the two of them. In the month and a half since classes started, Mina had begun hanging out more with Allison and Cat, and had accepted their invitation to the lodge for the weekend, proving herself to be a bit more mellow than what she came off as in their last encounter.

"Lyds, Mina, you two are not keeping a very good lookout right now." Allison said, changing the subject, as she shook a match out in the air before the flame reached her long and delicate fingers.

The two girls walked back over to the door and peeked through the crack to see everyone still gathered at the long dining room table. "We're still good." Lydia said.

"So are we. Okay, ready?" Allison lifted the chocolate frosted funfetti birthday cake off of the counter and began to follow Cat and Lydia out the door to the dining room. 

" _HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU_." Allison began singing, with Cat and Lydia joining in immediately. " _HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU_."

Cat walked over to Stiles, who had been standing next to the table talking to Malia, Zach and Ethan before the singing commenced. She wrapped her arms around his torso and felt instantly warm when he pulled her close against him. She pressed her cheek against his chest and watched as all her friends sang loudly as Allison delivered the cake in front of Scott at the table. She felt Stiles' chest vibrate as he sang along for his best friend's nineteenth birthday. She felt like this was perfect and how their lives should always be: carefree and full of love. She had all of the people that she loved, in one room, safe and happy and relaxed and warm and genuinely enjoying life for once. Cat felt butterflies grow in her stomach over the scene. 

She joined back into the singing as Stiles' ' _ **DEAR SCOTTY**_ ' reverberated through his chest and snapped her out of her thoughts. " _ **HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!**_ " The room filled with cheers, whistles and applause, everyone's faces dimly lit by the warm glow of the candles and the soft crackling of the massive fire in the fireplace. Smiles, that was all Cat saw; just smiles on the lips of each person in the room. It tugged on her heart strings. 

"Make a wish, Scott!" Allison said, rubbing his shoulders gently from behind. Scott looked up at her adoringly, and placed his hand on top of hers. He then looked around the room at his Pack, and he sighed. 

"I don't have any wishes, this was my wish. It can't get better than this." Scott was getting sentimental about the long weekend. 

"Wish for a new engine for the Jeep!" Stiles yelled across the table, eliciting a few chuckles from around the room. 

"You got it, buddy." Scott grinned up at his best friend, who smiled back and winked. Scott blew the candles out on the cake and everyone clapped again. 

Scott walked up to Stiles and Cat, swaying in place, chatting quietly amongst themselves, while Allison, Lydia and Mina returned to the kitchen for plates and silverware and a knife to cut the cake with. They both smiled as they saw Scott pause in front of them, a bashful glow spread across his cheeks. 

"Did you know?" Cat asked, her head still pressed against Stiles' chest, and his arms still holding her in place. 

Scott grinned sheepishly and nodded. "Only right before. Mina was right, I could hear you."

"You guys were talking about it?!" Stiles said surprised, leaning back to look down at his girlfriend, as he began to snicker. "You know Scott's literally _always_ listening for Allison. Oh, Cat, _come on_..." He shook his head and grinned. 

"Lydia's the one who brought it up!" She countered while laughing. 

Scott shook his head and smiled. "It doesn't matter. I was still surprised."

"Good." You nodded your head once, pride from pulling one over on your Alpha exuded from you.

Scott placed a hand on Stiles' shoulder and a hand on yours, and lowered his voice slightly. "I... I just want to thank you two. We needed this, as a Pack, after the last year, and I know the both of you did all of this planning to get us all here-"

Stiles interjected. "I can't take any credit. Cat's the one that did most of the work. I just drove us out here last month to make sure the place wasn't a shithole." 

Scott chortled quietly and shook his head. "Either way, I wanted to thank you. You two are my best friends in the whole world and I am just grateful that we could do this." 

"Aw, Scotty." Stiles jutted his bottom lip out and smiled. 

"Oh my god, do the two of you want some privacy right now?." Cat rolled her eyes and laughed. 

"Squish the witch?" Stiles asked his best friend with a devilish grin.

Scott nodded and narrowed his eyes at Cat. "Squish the witch." He agreed. 

"No, guys, no.. stop. Oh god. I can't breathe. I hate you both." Cat fake complained as her two best friends smashed their bodies against hers while laughing. 

" _I FOUND THE KNIFE_!" Allison yelled, emerging through the kitchen door holding a large chef's knife in her hand.

" **OH GOD, WEREWOLVES HIDE, SHE HAS A KNIFE**!" Stiles yelled jokingly, and Scott, Liam, and Isaac pretended to run for cover from the huntress. 

Allison dropped the knife to her side, jutted her hip out, and glared at Stiles. "Ha. Ha. I'll kill you first, Stilinski. You go down easy. Watch yourself." 

Cat laughed as Stiles put his hands up in fake surrender. This was how it should always be.

* * *

"You know, I'm grateful that you came into the Pack." Cora said as she sipped on her coffee with Bailey's and wolfsbane, and recrossed her ankles over the log she was resting them on.

Cat was surprised that Cora was being so open, and figured it had to be the wolfsbane and liqueur. She really liked the youngest Hale wolf and had become friends with her pretty quickly, but she never felt like they had the kind of relationship where they could have a heart-to-heart. She decided she wouldn't mind that though. "You are?" 

"Yea, you know, I know I'm a year younger than you but I'm still a year older than all of them and have all of these different life experiences with traveling and having a fucked up family and coming from a supernatural background from childhood... all of that stuff that I know you went through too." Cora paused, when she heard a ruckus coming from inside the lodge. Cat and Cora turned around and saw Stiles standing on his chair, around the table where the boys had all been playing poker, beating his chest with his fists. Cat laughed and shook her head, ignoring the yelling coming from inside, and turning back to Cora. 

"I get what you mean.. I never thought that I'd come here at twenty and start dating an eighteen year old, yet here I am." Cat chuckled to herself. "But it's nice having someone close to my age around, so I get it. Totally." 

Cora and Cat looked up when they heard the door close behind them. Scott and Allison emerged stumbled out of the lodge onto the wooden deck in the back, kissing and giggling, their faces connected by their lips. "Oh, hey guys." Allison laughed and nudged Scott in the side, picking his hand off of her ass, as she saw the two girls staring. "What's up?"

"Just talking. What's up with you, Al?" Cat asked, a smirk resting on her face. 

"We were going to go for a walk..." Scott tried to hide his smile by pressing his lips together firmly. 

Cora ignored Allison and spoke to Scott. "Is the poker game over?"

"No, everyone is determined to beat Stiles after that last round." Scott told them.

"Even though the only one who could beat Stiles is Lydia.. maybe Zach." Allison shook her head and laughed, eliciting an eye roll from Cora. Everything about Allison irked her. 

"Don't let us keep you from your  _walk_..." Cat smirked, and watched as Allison and Scott giggled their way into the woods down to the lake. She turned to Cora. "So I heard that Derek was buying up a block of the big houses North of campus, and he had offered to split the Pack up between the two at a discounted rent." 

"Stiles told you?" Cora asked, and Cat nodded, taking a sip of her beer for courage. 

"Yea, I think him and the guys are really thinking about doing it too." 

"I guess Derek also told Stiles that he offered the same to me and you and all of the girls then." Cora asked, and Cat nodded again. "I honestly wouldn't mind living with you and Malia, and I like your roommates, and I suppose that I could even tolerate living with Lydia, but Allison? It's never happening." 

"Are you and Isaac still having trouble?" Cat asked, rather boldly.

For a moment, all that Cat heard was the sound of the crickets chirping and the logs crackling and popping, as Cora contemplated her answer in silence. "I'm glad that you brought Allison back. It's not like I would've wanted her to stay dead if you could bring her back, but I didn't know her before she died, I only know that Isaac loved her enough that he literally left the country for two years because he couldn't cope with her death. I know that they didn't break up, she literally died. I constantly wonder if he would still be with her if he had the chance."

Cat interjected. "Don't you think that if he wanted to be with her, he would have tried when she came back?"

Cora shook her head. "No, her and Scott immediately got back together. I'm not sure he ever got the chance."

"Well, that's the other part of it, too, Cor. She doesn't want him, she wants Scott."

"For now." Cora countered. 

Cat shook her head. "I think what they went through bonded them forever. Clairvoyancey is not one of my powers, technically, but I would be stunned if they don't end up married in the future." 

"I don't know, I just..." Cora trailed off. 

"Have you talked to Isaac about all of this?" 

"A million times, and he swears that he loves me and he's over Allison, but..." 

"You don't trust him..." Cat filled in the blank when Cora trailed off again. 

"I guess not."

"YOU GUYS COLLUDED!" Stiles screamed from inside, but Cat ignored him this time, too engrossed in her conversation.

"What are you going to do? Are you thinking of breaking up with him?" Cat suddenly worried about Isaac. Cora was one of her closer friends in the Pack, but they hadn't bonded in the same way that her and Isaac had, especially since being in a class together that semester. She didn't want to see him hurt. 

"No, no.. I don't know. I don't want to break up, but I'm also getting sick of fighting all the time, and I feel like Isaac is getting exasperated with me."

"He's definitely not, I think he just misses you and is also sick of the fighting. Cor, you guys have to work this out."

"Stiles is coming." Cora said randomly, her wolf hearing picking up on the sounds of his footsteps approaching inside of the house. 

"Do you want to continue this later or shou-"

"Let's just drop it." Cora shook her head and took a sip of her now tepid spiked coffee. Cat nodded and turned her head as Stiles opened the back door and walked out to join them at the fire pit. "Who won?" Cora asked, as Stiles sat down on the wooden loveseat bench, next to Cat. 

"Pff. Me.. of course." Stiles said with a forced smugness. 

"Really? Cause it sounded like Lydia beat you..." Cat teased him, smirking as she took a sip of her beer. 

"Actually, I beat him." Mason said as he and Corey walked out behind Stiles and joined the three of them around the fire. 

"Ugh, Mason, really? In front of my girlfriend? You couldn't just let me have this.. just this one? I swear.." Stiles glared at the beta version of himself. 

Mason and Corey laughed and Cat shook her head at her boyfriend. "What's everyone else doing?" 

"Hanna is flirting with Liam hardcore." Mason reported. 

"It's hilarious. Liam is just like a love sick puppy dog following her around." Corey smirked. 

"I wonder if she knows that you are all minors still.." Cat wondered out loud to Mason and Corey, snickering to herself.

"I'm gonna go with probably not since they looked like they were about to make out when I came out here."

"Yea, I'll have a talk with her later." Cat laughed, her eyes wide with shock and humor. "Where's Sarah?" 

"I'm pretty sure her and Simon are upstairs having sex. They've been gone for like an hour." Stiles shook his head, and slid his arm across Cat's shoulders. 

"Oh god." 

"Where's I?" Cora asked about her boyfriend.

"He was inside talking to Parrish and Mina about guns last time I checked." Mason told Cora.

"They still are. I will literally find a gun and shoot myself if I have to hear anymore of the conversation too." Lydia interjected, walking out to the fire pit with Malia, Ethan, Theo and Zach on her tail. They all sat down around the fire, joining the conversation. 

"Where are Scott and Allison?" Stiles asked, having been too wrapped up in his poker game to notice them slipping out earlier. 

"I'm pretty sure they are have sex down by the lake right now." She mirrored his answer about Sarah and Simon earlier, smirking at him the same way he smirked at her. 

"Couple of Lake TaHOEs, ammirite?" Stiles quipped, and everyone but Cat groaned. Her laughter was really the only one that mattered to Stiles anyway. He beamed with pride over her giggle fit and kissed her on the cheek. 

"You guys were seriously made for each other." Cora chimed in, shaking her head at the pair. 

"I like to think so." Stiles replied, happily staring at his other half.

* * *

 

Soon everyone joined the group outside by the fire and they began swapping stories, and catching some of the newer Pack members up on old tales. Ethan had just finished explaining what Deucalion had convinced him and Aiden to do to their old Pack in order to become a part of the Alpha Pack. In order to lighten the mood, Scott was telling the story of the day that he and Stiles had to follow Danny and the Kanima form of Jackson to a dance club outside of Beacon Hills, and how Stiles was a drag queen magnet. Scott had the rest of the Pack hysterically laughing, except for Stiles, who leaned over to Cat and whispered in her ear. 

"I love you." 

Cat turned her head back to look at Stiles and she smiled softly. Butterflies, eight months later and he still gave her butterflies. She hoped they never went away. "I love you." He kissed her on the cheek, his nose pressing against her pronounced cheekbones.

"We need to come back here. This has to be like a yearly thing for Scott's birthday. I've never seen him and Allison and everyone else so happy before." Stiles continued whispering, glancing around at the faces of his friends.

"We will. I'll just reserve the house every year for this weekend and we'll make sure everyone can come." 

Stiles got caught on three faces and he squinted, trying to discern if he was seeing things. "Not to make a total left turn here, but uh... does... does it seem like Theo is staring at Liam and Hanna?"

"Hm?" Cat hummed, zoned out thinking about how happy her friends were. "I'm sorry, baby. What'd you say?" She leaned her head closer to his, and he looked down at her, pausing to smile, before repeating himself. 

"I said, you cute little drunkard, does it seem like Theo is staring at Liam and Hanna? I think he has a crush on Hanna."

Cat lifted her head up to glance across the circle at her roommate and the young beta. She then searched for Theo until she saw him intensely staring at the pair, flirting on a log by the fire. She snickered. "Maybe he's staring at Liam." She whispered back. 

Stiles furrowed his brow at her and rolled his eyes. "No, Theo isn't gay and neither is Liam."

"They don't need to be..." She countered. "And honestly, it looks like he's watching Liam more than Hanna.. plus the two of them have spent a bunch of time together, right? Didn't you tell me that they were together a lot during the whole Ghost Riders thing? Maybe Theo realized some things... I mean, watch, when Hanna laughs at Liam's jokes, Theo glares. Look." She pointed a little too obviously. 

Stiles watched and then saw what his girlfriend was talking about. "Huh.... Well, that's a development." 

 _"My favorite story is a Stiles story_." 

"What?" Stiles' head whipped around at the sound of his name. 

"My favorite story from high school involves _you_." Allison repeated herself, a dimpled smirk resting on her face as she prepared to tell a story. "Do you remember the whipped cream incident?" She asked, and a mischievous smile spread across his lips. 

" _Oh yea_."

"Oh my god, I love this story." Scott interjected. 

"What happened?" Malia asked from across the fire. 

"Okay, well, I guess I had been annoying Stiles with my stories about Allison and I, when we first started dating, and how happy we were-"

" _THOROUGHLY ANNOYING_." Stiles interrupted. 

Scott snickered. "And so he decided to get back at me by filling the sleeves of my jacket with whipped cream."

"Except Scotty, here, didn't tell me that he had switched lockers that morning and they both had lacrosse jackets.." Stiles helped the story along. 

"Who's jacket was it?" Mason asked. 

"Jackson's." Allison blurted out before devolving into a fit of hysterical laughter. The Pack filled the quiet night air with laughter and coughing as they thought of Stiles filling the sleeves of a jacket with the whipped topping. "I thought you were going to be killed that day." 

"It was a simple mistake." Stiles shrugged with a smirk.

* * *

Stiles ran his fingers up and down her shoulder blade, pressing the side of his chin into her hairline, and stared at the logs burning in the fireplace. He closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of her fingers brushing through his chest hair. He smiled as he felt her nuzzle her cheek harder against his shoulder, his light stubble rubbing against her forehead. He turned and peppered the crown of her head with kisses, feelings her cheekbones dig into his skin as she smiled. She was it. He was so in love. 

"I'm going to marry you one day." He whispered, barely audible over the pops and cracks from the fire burning its way through the wood in the hearth.

He heard a soft moan come from her throat, then he smiled when her eyes connected with his. "You're only saying that because my naked body is pressed up against you." She replied, not taking him seriously. 

"Go get dressed, and I'll tell it to you again." Stiles spoke more firmly. "I. Am. Going. To. Marry. You." He annunciated every word, staring deep into her hazel eyes. 

"Don't say it if you don't mean it, Sti." She shook her head, the smile replaced by the same stern look on Stiles' face.

"And I'm going to make you happy for the rest of your life. I promise that I want nothing more. I just want you. For the rest of time." 

"That's all I want." She shrugged, a gentle smile resting on her lips. 


End file.
